Update as of January 25: With the latest announcement from the Government of India in place, the PUBG game along withall other Chinese apps that were banned last year will remain unaffected and banned. Apparently, the government doesn’t have any plan to reverse it soon. [Source]

On September 2, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology decided to ban a total consortium of 118 apps originating from China. This includes the list of 59 apps that were banned back in June which include TikTok, WeChat, UC Browser, and so on. Perhaps the most popular app that is being banned is PUBG Mobile which is now listed on the released list of 118 banned apps including a few others.

According to the list, popular apps like Baidu, Zakzak, Alipay, Youku, Cut Cut, VooV are included in the list along with games like Rules of Survival, Legend: Rising Empire, Soul Hunters, Arena of Valor, and a lot of others. Talking about the popular battle royale game PUBG Mobile which is also taking the heat due to the ongoing tension between India and China, it’s a lite version called “PUBG Lite” and the full-fledged game named as “PUBG Mobile Nordic Map: Livik” is gone too.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology posted a press release giving all the information needed to address the list of 118 banned apps. Accordingly, the said Chinese apps have been banned as they are prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India. As these apps use servers to store unauthorized user data outside servers in India, this could prove fatal for the security of the country.

The press release also states that the ban on these apps was a result of meticulous work that went behind the extensive research on how these malicious apps use multiple data harvesting methods to collect user data that could compromise users and the nation as a whole.

Note that the apps that are banned now (total of 118 apps) are now not accessible on both iOS and Android and other mobile and non=mobile internet-enabled devices including their websites and web portals. When I verified it, most of the apps were still present on Google Play Store and App Store. Thus, it is to be seen when exactly these apps are removed from the two biggest app aggregators as well as completely banned for usage in India.

So this happened. #GovtofIndia bans 118 apps and games including PUBG Mobile (limited), Rules of Survival, PUBG Lite and others. pic.twitter.com/t0oMo9f1Hs

— TechTantrum (@TechTantrum_Off) September 2, 2020