Chinese App Ban: Homegrown App Developers Delighted, Say Time For 'Digital Atma Nirbhar’

Domestic start-ups have welcomed the government’s move and hoping that the start-up ecosystem will get a further boost.

This illustration photo taken on June 30, 2020 shows a person using the social media video-sharing application Tik Tok on a smartphone in Faridabad. - TikTok on June 30 denied sharing information on Indian users with the Chinese government, after New Delhi banned the wildly popular app citing national security and privacy concerns. "TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and have not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese Government," said the company, which is owned by China's ByteDance. (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP)

New Delhi: After the government has banned 59 Chinese app citing national security concerns, domestic start-ups have welcomed the government’s move and hoping that the start-up ecosystem will get a further boost. Also Read: TikTok Denies Sharing Indian Users' Data With China; App Disappears From Google Play, Apple Store The regional social media company, ShareChat hailed the ban while expecting the support for start-ups in the country. "This is a welcome move from the government against platforms that have had serious privacy, cyber security, and national security risks. We expect the government to continue their support for the Indian startup ecosystem" said Berges Malu, Director, Public Policy, ShareChat, according to the news agency IANS. ShareChat, a Twitter-backed company has more than 60 million monthly active users and the company is valued between $600 and $650 million.  The popular social media apps such as TikTok (owned by Bytedance) and Likee (owned by Singapore-based Bigo Technologies), have a similar target user base as Sharechat. Digital audio platform Khabri also called for taking action on Indian companies that have Chinese investors.  "...we strongly feel that the objective will only be fully achieved when government also considers the control that Chinese investors have in Indian companies, which from the perspective of data privacy/security will remain a leaky bucket for Indian customers data, draining to China," Khabri co-founder and President Sandeep Singh said, according to PTI. Both these apps have the maximum share of user bases coming from tier II and tier III regions in India. Meanwhile, one of the most successful start-up founders in India who have founded three successful companies, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder of Paytm also lauded the government’s move to ban the Chinese apps. He took to Twitter to hail the government's decision saying bold step has been taken in the national interest.

However, the serial start-up founder received criticism as the Twitterati pointed out at the Paytm’s "Chinese investors". Ravish Naresh, Co-Founder CEO, Khatabook, digital ledger app, also praised the move on the micro-blogging site.

Naveen Tewari, Founder and CEO, InMobi Group also took to social media in expressing his happiness saying that this is the digital ‘Aatma Nirbhar’ moment which most Indians have been aspiring for.

A video app Roposo, which was acquired by InMobi’s Glance, is in a position to lead this movement as more than 55 million Indian users are subscribed to it, asserts the tech founder. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) cited security concerns to ban these apps. The move has rekindled optimism among homegrown app developers who can leverage the ban on Chinese social media apps. The banned apps include UCBrowser and UCNews, both of which are owned by the AliBaba Group. Tencent owned WeChat has also been banned, and two smartphone maker Xiaomi’s apps — Mi Video Call and MI Community — are also on the list.