Shein India data to stay local, to sell Reliance Retail-made products

The new Shein India app, which went live last Friday, has products which are manufactured, marketed and sold only by Nextgen Fast Fashion, a fully owned subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd.

Nextgen manufactures these products on the Shein India platform through a wide network of Indian manufacturers, in which most of which are MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), according to an industry insider. 

Shein has re-entered the Indian market almost five years after its ban through the country's leading retailer Reliance Retail. The new Shein Platform is built and hosted in India and its ownership and control will always remain with Reliance Retail, he said.

Shein India Fast Fashion App from Reliance Retail currently has over 10,000 downloads on Google's Play Store and is ranked among the top 10 among peers on Apple's store.

There is no equity ownership of Shein in the Indian company and app Shein India has been developed by Reliance Retail and is hosted in the country.

The newly launched platforms have no links with the now in-operational Shein app and the former website (Shein.in) which were previously managed and operated directly by Shein, he said.

Further, the platform will be hosted on infrastructure in India and all platform data will remain in India. Shein will not have any access to, or rights, over such data, the industry insiders informed.

Reliance Retail is now working with Shein to develop a completely localised model for digitising the supply chain of Indian MSMEs and factories, creating jobs and enhancing the competitiveness of the Indian textile sector globally.

Moreover, Nextgen is also scaling up the network of Indian manufacturers so that India can become a supply source for Shein's global operations in future. This will also help to create substantial export opportunities for Indian MSME garment manufacturers, he said.

Shein was one of the apps that was banned by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in June 2020 after the escalation of tensions with China.

Almost three years after getting banned in India, Shein signed a partnership in 2023 with Reliance Retail, led by Isha Ambani, the daughter of billionaire Mukesh Ambani.

Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), through its subsidiary RRL (Reliance Retail Ltd), had entered into a technology agreement with Roadget Business Pte Ltd, which owns Shein, to develop an indigenous e-commerce retail platform.

In December last year, the government informed the Lok Sabha that the sale of branded products from Shein was not banned, though its app was blocked.

This platform is intended to create a network of local manufacturers and suppliers who will manufacture products under the brand Shein and sell them domestically and globally, Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had said in a written reply.

The Ministry of Textiles consulted with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), which in turn consulted the Ministry of Home Affairs, and conveyed no objection to the proposal of RRVL, he added.

"The licence agreement covered the protection that ownership and control of the platform will always remain with RRVL through its wholly owned subsidiary," Goyal said, adding, "As per the agreement, at all times, the platform will be hosted on infrastructure in India and all platform data will remain in India with Shein having no access to, or rights over, such data".

The agreement requires consenting parties to follow Indian laws and ensure localisation of infrastructure and platform data, Goyal added.

Established in 2008, Shein is known for its affordable pricing and is popular among millennials for its trendy women's wear and other apparel.

It was banned, along with 59 apps, by the government citing the "threat to sovereignty and integrity" posed by these platforms.

However, Shein products were available in the online market through e-commerce platforms such as Amazon. The issues were also brought up at the Delhi High Court.