NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian tech and entertainment companies are seeking to capitalize on sudden opportunities arising from a government ban on Chinese-owned apps, including the popular TikTok, with a rival video app that it says has added 22 million of users in 48 hours.
India this week banned 59 Chinese-owned apps, including TikTok and Tencent (0700.HK) WeChat, in what the country’s technology minister described as a “digital attack” against China.
The move followed a confrontation between India and China at a disputed Himalayan border site, which left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
With 200 million Indian users, featuring a simple user interface, background music options, and various special effects, TikTok was a growing force on the nation’s social media scene, and the ban left fans looking for options. .
Roposo, an Indian video sharing social media app similar to TikTok that has existed since 2014, saw its user base increase by 22 million in the two days after India banned Chinese apps, the company’s founder told Reuters. , Mayank Bhangadia.
“In the past few days I have slept a total of five hours, and it is the same for our entire team,” said Bhangadia. “The burden is too much and we just make sure the experience is as smooth as possible.”
Roposo’s downloads on Google’s Android now number more than 80 million, and Bhangadia expects it to reach 100 million in just a few days. Before the ban, Roposo had approximately 50 million installations on Android devices, which account for most of India’s nearly 500 million smartphones.
Headquartered in Bengaluru’s South India tech hub, the company has only 200 employees now, but plans to hire up to 10,000 people in the next two years and can take the app around the world, Bhangadia said.
Other homegrown TikTok alternatives, such as Chingari and Mitron, are also finding favor with users, with many turning to social media to echo Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for “atma-nirbhar” or self-sufficient India.
MyGov, the federal government’s citizen engagement website, created its account in Roposo last month.
“We have to create our own ecosystem, each country has done this, this is our atma-nirbhar program,” said a government minister.
New players are also jumping into the fray. Zee Entertainment Enterprises, based in Mumbai (ZEE.NS) is set to launch an ad-supported short video platform called HiPi in the next two months, said Rajneel Kumar, product manager for its Zee5 digital unit.
He hoped that former TikTok users “would find a home within Hipi so they could continue to enjoy the content they enjoyed.”
Report from Sankalp Phartiyal; Additional reports from Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
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