Tiktok has many rivals in India and the government ban is a blessing for them

• The Indian government banned the popular Chinese video sharing platform TikTok on Monday night.
• TikTok in India has several rivals like Chingari, Bolo Indya, Roposo, Khabri and even the very recently launched Mitron.
• Indian entrepreneurs believe with this, ‘Made in India’ apps will get a boost as they won’t be fighting with Chinese companies.

The Indian government banned the popular Chinese video-sharing platform TikTok on Monday night. While that would have hurt the many Tiktokers and influencers in India, Indian rivals of TikTok are rejoicing.

As soon as the news of the ban came in, Chingari, one of TikTok’s India rivals, started getting massive hits. Sumit Ghosh, the founder of Chingari, told Business Insider that the app was getting 100,000 downloads per hour. “This step will take India one step ahead to be an atmanirbhar economy — free from the clutches of China," Ghosh said.

But Chingari is not the only one. TikTok has several rivals in India like Bolo Indya, Roposo, Khabri, Trell and even the very recent Mitron (currently under scrutiny by Google Play Store). And these apps welcomed the move from the government and the subsequent traffic on their apps.

The Indian founders called this the atmanirbhar moment for India’s entrepreneurs."This is the digital atmanirbhar moment that most Indians have been rooting for. Roposo is very well positioned to lead this movement. Roposo will continue to build on the trust and love that 55 million Indian users have placed in us,” said Naveen Tewari, founder and CEO of InMobi Group.

The Indian government’s MyGovIndia platform had moved from TikTok to Roposo earlier this month.

Meanwhile, lifestyle community-commerce platform Trell got 1 million downloads just after the ban on Chinese apps. The lifestyle vlogging platform allows users to create 5-minute videos in their native languages.

Others too tried to cash in on the loss of TikTok as a platform for the hundreds of influencers on the app. “Bolo Indya users spent more than 39 minutes per day on it before the ban on Chinese apps, and now we invite all the Tiktok stars from India to be part of the fast-growing Bolo Indya community. We are pleased to have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of millions of Tiktok stars and provide them with the platform to build on their social capital and convert it to financial independence,” said Varun Saxena, Founder, Bolo Indya.

This move could be a boon for India’s entrepreneurs to build their own empires like Chinese giants. Indian entrepreneurs believe with this, ‘Made in India’ apps will get a boost as they won’t be fighting with Chinese companies, who have the cash to spend and build a userbase.

“The move can be hugely beneficial for Indian companies considering the potential Indian startups have in terms of creating our own TikTok, We Chat, Baidu. Many others are all poised to make it big with the scale our country provides and absence of Chinese competitors with deep pockets,” Sandeep Singh, founder and president, Khabri.

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