Kathmandu, December 29. Alibaba co-owner Jack Ma has been ordered by China to scale back the operations of the Ant group, which  deals with finance and technology and is an affiliate company of the Alibaba Group. Chinese authorities have alleged that his company has been using monopolistic practices in their operations in the market.

A governor from China’s central bank also has said that the company’s governance was “not sound” and ordered it to “return to its origins” as a payment services provider.

In response, Ant company has said, “We will enlarge the scope and magnitude of opening up for win-win collaboration, review and rectify our work in consumer rights protection, and comprehensively improve our business compliance and sense of social responsibility. Ant will make its rectification plan and working timetable in a timely manner and seek regulators’ guidance in the process.”

When Ma accused China’s financial regulators and state-owned banks of running a ‘pawnshop’ mindset at a high-profile summit in Shanghai, Alibaba’s shares have lost more than a quarter of their value. Officials of the Chinese Communist Party also struck back, accusing Ma’s company of violating various regulations.

Analysts and policy experts have said that China’s step has come as a result of Ma’s blunt speech at the Bund Summit in Shanghai on 24 October.