Domestic video making apps such as Mitron TV and Chingari are certainly looking for a brighter future with Chinese rival TikTok being banned by the government citing security concerns.
The announcement comes at a time when these apps were already riding high given the anti-China sentiments following border standoffs and the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Launched in May, Mitron TV was a smash hit even though founders Anish Khandelwal and Shivank Agarwal were testing waters with a beta version of the short-video app while working full-time jobs. The app has already garnered over 10 million downloads in India.
On the other hand, Chingari app which has been developed by a Chhattisgarh-based developer has managed to grab nearly 2.5 million downloads so far.
Recently, even industrialist Anand Mahindra Tweeted about the app. "I hadn’t ever downloaded TikTok, but I have just downloaded Chingari... More power to you..." the Chairman of Mahindra Group tweeted on June 28.
Besides TikTok, 58 other apps have been banned by The Ministry of Information Technology, saying they are engaged in activities which are "prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.”
"We believe that any app that is targeting Indian users should be complaint with local laws and be sensitive to the local community guidelines. We built Mitron with a vision to offer a product that reimagines digital entertainment and engagement, while adhering to the above requirements," said Shivank Agarwal, co-founder and CEO of Mitron TV. "We have seen amazing traction during the last two months with more than 1.2 crore downloads and believe the momentum will increase significantly now," he added.
Welcoming the move, Sumit Ghosh, co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Chingari, said, "For a very long time TikTok has been spying on users and sending back the data to China. We are happy that this step has been finally taken. We would like to welcome all users of TikTok to come and try Chingari, which is a 100 percent India grown app.”
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