China's WeChat says complied with all Indian laws and regulations

China's text and voice messaging service operator, Tencent, which may be facing a likely ban in India, said, it had complied with all relevant local laws and regulations, PTI reports.

According to Tencent, spokesman Hu Chunnan, who spoke to state run The Global Times in Beijing, the messaging platform WeChat - a Tencent offering to its overseas users, had always complied with all relevant local laws and regulations. The comments came in response to reports in Indian media that it faced a likely ban due to security concerns.

The report cited an unnamed Indian official as saying, the issue would be reviewed before a final decision was taken on whether or not to block access to such services like WeChat. The official was further reported as saying, that it was however, too premature to say whether the application would be banned.

WeChat a recently launched platform, allows user to exchange text, pictures or voice messages, like WhatsApp and BlackBerry Messenger. The platform launched in China in 2011 and now boasts a users base of 300 million.

There had been reports that plans were afoot to collect a nominal fee for its use.

Meanwhile, Tencent was offering a payment service to enable online transactions for selected merchants via its mobile communication platform, WeChat Xinhua News Agency reports.

According to the agency, online transactions could be made through credit card, online banking or TenPay, which was the company's third-party payment platform allowing merchants to process payments from customers' personal accounts.

The report added, that since early-June, WeChat had enabled a selected number of registered corporate accounts to offer online shopping services.

Fast food chain McDonald's, for instance, was among the first batch of merchants to open up an online channel through WeChat where its followers could pay 3 yuan (US$0.49) for an afternoon tea discount coupon, with transactions being completed under the WeChat payment framework.

Tencent would also take care of backend technical integration and support for these merchants, including page design and payment linkups, according to Liu Sishan, the Chinese company's public relations officer. He did not, however, reveal how Tencent charged vendors.

The company, which had long indicated its goal for venturing into the e-commerce area, had been looking at ways to monetise its user base without charging for the app, Xinhua said.

For instance, it encouraged WeChat users to scan codes at stores to purchase products and enjoy discounts.