Indian companies hail the move to ban 47 additional Chinese applications

The decision is a huge blow to the Chinese app developers who enjoyed a wide fan base in India prior to the ban. On the other hand, the move has been welcomed by Indian companies and developers who believe that the move will open new avenues for Indian developers.

Chinese app ban. (HT Tech)

The Indian government on Monday imposed a ban on 47 more Chinese applications in India. The fresh ban comes nearly a month after the government banned 59 China-based apps, including TikTok, UC Browser, Likee and WeChat, for posing a threat to the sovereignty, defence and public order in the country.

While the government hasn't disclosed the fresh list of banned apps yet, ANI reports that the new list contains the cloned copies of the apps that were banned last month. The list contains apps such as TikTok Lite, Helo Lite, Shareit Lite, Bigo Live Lite and VFY Lite among others.

The decision is a huge blow to the Chinese app developers who enjoyed a wide fan base in India prior to the ban. On the other hand, the move has been welcomed by Indian companies and developers who believe that the move will open new avenues for Indian developers.

“This second digital strike by our Government on China is a great move yet again as all these 47 apps were operating as clones of the 59 Chinese apps barred from using earlier. ..Moreover, this initiative will further open up opportunities for more Indian apps to take up the limelight and onboard users to provide them with their services...We hope Indians will continue choosing apps which are made in India, for India,” Rooter founder CEO Piyush said in a statement to HT Tech.

“This is a very good move by the Indian Government & Modi ji...As we've said before, we, the Indian citizens need to be very concerned of our data, and make sure it remains within India. We at Chingari have always been on top of this. Hence we decided to never take any funds from China nor use any of their technology in our app,” said Chingari co-founder and CEO Sumit Ghosh.

“This new ban of apps which got missed out earlier is a very encouraging move from the Government of India and in the right direction to ensure the sovereignty of our nation remains intact in cyberspace. This only goes to say that we are not looking back and will continue to be vocal for a more Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” Trell founder Pulkit Agarwal added.

“The ban of another 47 Chinese Apps by the Government of India is without secondary doubt a welcome move, coming at the time when we want India to be Atma Nirbhar and the next big super power of the planet earth. This is a much needed oxygen for India Startups working in the similar space that was choking before this move, as these Chinese companies spend a huge amount of money on ad campaigns to acquire a big portion of the market,” Diksha Deo, CEO and founder of Incubsence, said in a statement to HT Tech.

“Most of the apps that are banned belong to the video or utility tool space. We welcome all moves which in-turn enhance the security of our country & its people...The ban led to users exploring the Play Store more which led to 1.5x increase in organic users,” Kuku FM, co-founder and CEO, Lal Chand Bisu shared.

"We understand and support the government's decision...We are pleased to support millions of TikTokers with a positive & secure platform that will help them in enhancing their social presence while becoming financially independent,” Vidya Narayanan, CEO & co-founder of Rizzle, added.

Sandeep Singh, who is the co-founder and president of Khabri has a slightly different opinion. He believes that the move is likely to have a slightly negative impact on the amateur content creators. 

“Though it has had a slightly negative impact on the amateur content creator ecosystem, it will go a long way in boosting the Indian entrepreneurs to step up and create world class platforms...This step by the government will go a long way as we are the youngest nation in the world and scale was never a challenge,” he said.

“The decision to ban non essential apps is good. Ban on Apps like WeChat which are a way to communicate with Chinese vendors hinders communication with them. It has good language translation tools and is very helpful,” Rajeev Karwal, founder and chairman of Milagrow told HT Tech.

“The entire nation is appreciating this move as it provides a plethora of opportunities for Indian tech startups in the form of Digital Aatmanirbharta Revolution...Taken in the best interest of Indians, it will go a long way with job creation in our massive technology domain...Another positive thing is that with home-grown apps, users will feel secure about our state and public orders,” added Burgeon Law founder Roma Priya.

"I believe, over the last couple of years, Chinese apps have built good technology and scalable products but now Indian developers have a great opportunity to serve the respective categories of the different markets. Indeed, just exact clones won't be sufficient to take over any app overnight but if they can reverse engineer and make more desi focused solutions it will serve us right. Tier 2/3 cities Content creators, especially on TikTok, Vigo, Helo, Likee might face a temporary stop on their ongoing growth, but if right set of similar apps out of our country comes sooner as an adequate replacement, it will be great for them,” said Amit Mondal, who is the founder of Pulpkey.

"This ban will boost creativity and acceptability for Indian apps and products, and developers are to take complete advantage of this situation. The current national resistance towards non-Indian products will help Indian brands with a platform to replace them with a better quality product, competing with strong International brands on a global stage," Sonit Jain, CEO of GajShield Infotech, told HT Tech.