Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance brings back THIS Chinese company in India, launches app

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail has launched an app to sell fashion apparels from Shein, China’s lifestyle brand, As part of a licensing agreement. Reliance took the move five years after Shein's app was banned in India after it was embroiled in a diplomatic issue.  

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance launched the app on Saturday morning, said a source close to the information regarding launch plans of reliance.  

Reliance's launch of the Shein India Fast Fashion app marks a shift in its strategy, deviating from adding brands to its main fashion app Ajio, which features brands like Superdry and Gap, as it vies with competitors like Myntra, owned by Flipkart. 

Chinese brand Shein was founded in 2012 and shifted its headquarters to Singapore sometimes later. The lifestyle brand showcases a wide range of styles of Western clothes in low budget. India banned its app in 2020 at the same time when it also banned other Chinese apps like ByteDance's TikTok as concerns of security threatened their usage at a time when India-China got involved in border disputes and soured relations.  

The Indian government last year, revealed to parliament that Reliance disclosed that it had partnered with Shein, with Indian manufacturers producing products under the Shein brand, but kept further details of the agreement private. 

According to a source familiar with the matter, all Shein-branded products sold on the app are designed and manufactured in India, and will eventually be available on Ajio, although a timeline has not been disclosed.