Last verified: August 2026, by the VPN Super Team.

Yes. AliExpress has been blocked in India since November 2020, and that block is still in place as of August 2026. The app is gone from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store for Indian accounts, and aliexpress.com does not load for most users browsing from an Indian IP address.

This isn't a temporary glitch or a regional outage. It's a standing order from the Indian government, and it hasn't been reversed in nearly six years. Below is what actually caused it, what's blocked versus what still works, and what Indian shoppers use instead.

Why did India ban AliExpress?

The Indian government banned AliExpress under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. That section lets the government block public access to any app or website it decides is "prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, or public order," per the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's own notification language. It's the same legal mechanism used for TikTok, PUBG Mobile, and WeChat.

The stated reasons for the AliExpress ban were a mix of national security concerns, data privacy worries about apps sending Indian user data to servers in China, and broader geopolitical tension following border clashes between the two countries in 2020. AliExpress is owned by Alibaba Group, a Chinese company, which put it squarely in scope.

None of the three top-ranking pages on this topic name the actual law. It matters, because it turns a vague "government decided" story into something you can look up and verify yourself.

What's the timeline of India's AliExpress ban?

The AliExpress ban didn't happen in isolation. It was the third of several waves of Chinese app blocks that India rolled out over about five months in 2020, per the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's own press notifications.

AliExpress landed in the November tranche alongside AliPay (Alibaba's payments arm) and the ride-and-delivery app Lalamove. Most coverage of this topic skips that detail, but it matters for understanding the scope of what changed for Chinese apps in India that year.

What's actually blocked, and what still works?

Two different things get lumped together when people talk about "the ban," and separating them matters.

App store delisting. AliExpress was pulled from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store for Indian accounts. If you already had the app installed before late 2020, it may still open, but it typically can't update, and new sign-ups from India generally fail.

Network-level blocking. Indian internet service providers also block or throttle access to aliexpress.com at the network level, following government direction. This is why the website itself, not just the app, is inaccessible for most people browsing from an Indian connection.

Competitor coverage of this topic tends to blur these two mechanisms together, which matters for understanding what "blocked" actually means for AliExpress specifically. VPN Super does not provide instructions for working around either kind of block.

One more distinction worth making: Alibaba.com is not banned. AliExpress is Alibaba Group's consumer-facing marketplace (B2C) for individual shoppers. Alibaba.com is the separate business-to-business (B2B) sourcing platform used by importers and wholesalers, and it remains accessible in India today. If you've seen Alibaba.com working while AliExpress doesn't, that's not an error. They're different products with different regulatory outcomes.

Is it illegal for an individual to use a VPN to reach a blocked app?

This is the question most coverage of the AliExpress ban skips entirely, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a workaround.

Using a VPN itself is legal in India. VPNs are widely used for work, banking security, and general privacy, and no law specifically criminalizes an individual for using one. What changes the risk calculus is what you do with that access. Deliberately circumventing a government-ordered block to reach a banned platform sits in a legal gray area that hasn't been tested against individual users in court. It also opens the door to a separate problem: sideloading an unofficial APK file to reinstall AliExpress carries its own, more concrete risk of malware, data theft, and violation of Google's and Apple's own store terms, regardless of what India's government does.

This isn't legal advice, and the actual enforcement risk to an individual shopper is different from the compliance risk to a business. If either matters to your situation, a local lawyer is a better source than any blog post, including this one.

What are legitimate ways to shop AliExpress-style products in India today?

For shoppers who used AliExpress before the ban, there are several legal options that don't involve trying to reach a blocked platform at all.

A practical scenario: someone who used to order phone accessories or fabric samples from AliExpress before 2020 has three realistic paths today. A domestic marketplace like Meesho or Flipkart covers similar categories. A proxy-shopping forwarder works for items only available on Chinese platforms. Or they go without. None of these require reaching a blocked app or site.

For sellers rather than shoppers, the picture is different. Indian dropshippers who built a business sourcing from AliExpress had to rebuild supplier relationships after 2020, often shifting to import-license-based bulk sourcing or domestic wholesale distributors, since individual cross-border parcels carry their own customs and import-license rules regardless of which platform they come from.

How can you stay safe while you shop and browse online?

None of the above requires a VPN, and VPN Super isn't going to suggest otherwise for a nationally blocked platform.

Where a VPN does earn its place is in ordinary browsing and shopping safety that has nothing to do with any specific site's availability: encrypting your connection on public Wi-Fi at a café or airport, cutting down on ISP-level throttling on your home connection, and keeping your traffic private from your network operator in general. Those are the situations VPN Super is built for.

If that's what you're after, you can download VPN Super and turn it on before you connect to a shared network. Beyond the core connection, VPN Super's features cover the basics most people want from a privacy tool day to day. None of it is tied to any particular shopping site, and none of it is a promise to get around a government restriction.

Has India ever considered lifting the AliExpress ban?

There's no public indication that India's government has moved to reverse the AliExpress ban since November 2020. Periodic reports have suggested informal discussions about easing restrictions on some Chinese apps as diplomatic relations shift, but nothing has translated into an actual policy change for AliExpress specifically. As of August 2026, the block remains fully in effect, and VPN Super hasn't found any official signal that it's under near-term review.

Sources: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) press notifications, June/September/November 2020; Press Information Bureau (PIB) releases on IT Act Section 69A app blocks; independent reporting from BBC and Reuters on India's 2020 Chinese app bans. Last verified against live app-store and network availability: August 2026.