Finally, Tiktok parent company ByteDance has lost all hopes of starting Indian operations. In a recent jolt, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology informed that the ban will continue further on Chinese apps including Tiktok.
As per the latest reports, ByteDance is planning to sell TikTok Indian operations to its local rival Glance. The decision may hurt the loyal Tiktok fans and creators who were waiting for the relaunch of the most popular short video app in the world.
Bytedance Plans to Sell TikTok India Operations
With the latest notification from the Indian Government, ByteDance had no ray of hope to restart Tiktok in India. The company also fired more than 2000 employees who were dedicated to the Tiktok operations in India. Initially, the company thought that ban may get over in few months, so they did not remove employees at that time. But after more than 6 months of Tiktok ban, Bytedance understood that its time is over in India.
As per the insider reports, Softbank is playing the role of mediator between Bytedance and Glance for the deal. The talk is in early-stage that is why no involved party officially accepted it.
Softbank is a common investor for Bytedance and Glance. This deal is dependant on four major parties- Bytedance, Glance, Softbank, and Indian Authorities. Why Indian authorities? Well, a final seal of approval is compulsory from the Indian Government. It is known that India has banned more than 250 major apps of China after a border tussle.
When contacted, Softbank and Bytedance did not reply to the emails sent by different media portals. Glance spokesman also did not say anything related to the deal. He completely declined to comment on that issue.
As a major investor in Bytedance, Softbank is the one who is looking for an Indian company to sell Tiktok India assets.
If the current deal goes further, Indian Authorities will force Tiktok to leave user data and related technology in India. As per the rules, things are not that simple. In such a scenario, Bytedance has to take a clearance from the Chinese government as well to sell the assets. Technology exports will be one of the major hurdles to finish this deal.
About Glance and Other Rivals of Tiktok in India
Glance, a Bengaluru-based digital firm, provides content through the mobile app. The company was launched by Naveen Tewari, an alumnus of Harvard Business School. Naveen also founded the first Indian Unicorn InMobi.
Glance started its short video platform Roposo 20 months back. Roposo saw a surge in user base after the Tiktok ban. It also became a unicorn in the month of December after raising the funds from Google.
Chingari, Another local rival of Tiktok, also got immense popularity after the Chinese app ban. Chingari’s growth is so phenomenal that it surpassed 50 million downloads in the last 6 months.
instagram’s Reels, Youtube’s Youtube Short, Moj short video platforms started recently to woo the Tiktok fans in India. Still, you can’t deny the fact that no one reached near to Tiktok popularity. Users are still missing Tiktok. Globally, Tiktok is ruling with no stiff competition. In 2020, Tiktok was the most downloaded non-gaming app worldwide.
