‘3 million videos are being watched per hour,’ Chingari and Roposo downloads go crazy after ban on Chinese Apps

The Modi Government’s decision to ban 59 Chinese apps, which include the likes of TikTok, CamScanner, Shein, etc, has on expected lines sent shivers down the spines of China. With the ban upon such apps coming into effect yesterday, Indian apps, which were languishing in anonymity so to say until TikTok was not banned, are now seeing an unprecedented upswing in not just the number of downloads, but also their engagement levels. Chingari and Roposo, two Indian apps which have been hailed as desi alternatives to TikTok, are now being accepted by audiences as an instantaneous replacement for the Chinese app.

Chingari is a short video creation and sharing platform, much on the lines of what TikTok was. Even before the ban on Chinese apps was announced, Biswatma Nayak, co-founder of Chingari, stated in a PTI report that subscriber count had spiked by 400 percent within the past few days in light of the anti-China sentiment which is now peaking in the country. Sumit Ghosh, co-founder and head of product and growth at Chingari, meanwhile, stated that Chingari received 1 lakh downloads within the first one hour of the ban on Chinese apps itself. Yesterday, Ghosh informed that Chingari is witnessing a heavy surge in traffic, with data showing 1 million video views on the platform in 30 minutes alone.

Taking to Twitter, Ghosh said, “Approximately 10,000 users per min in the app. 3 million videos are being swiped/watched per hour. 26 million videos have been watched in the last 24 hours. 90,000 new users joining the app per hour. And guess what? Our tech and Infra handles it with ease”.

By last evening, Chingari was witnessing over 3 lakh downloads per hour. 2.2 million videos were being swiped or viewed on the platform per hour, while 8.5 lakh users were engaged on the platform every hour. Latest numbers show that the app has breached the 5 million download mark on Google Play Store alone. This same number, until 4 PM yesterday, stood at 3.5 million. This alone tells us about the galloping pace at which the app is gaining success and recognition across India.

Mayank Bhangadia, founder of Roposo, another Indian video sharing app had quite an optimistic view of things. While talking to CNN News18, Bhangadia said, “I am seeing the highest surge in user traffic that Roposo has seen till date. All things considered; I expect to see up to 10 million new users join Roposo today itself.” Roposo presently has over 65 million users on its platform, with monthly active users count of over 25 million.

Bhangadia, while speaking to News18, said that its reach is actually much higher thanks to its parent company, Glance, which is owned by Indian startup, InMobi. “Glance has a daily user base of over 100 million active users, and Roposo’s content is fed into the Glance lock screens. As a result, our reach is over 125 million active users every day,” he adds. On Google Play Store alone, the app has garnered over 50 million downloads.

The invincibility of Chinese apps has been exposed as a myth. Indian markets are well equipped to fill all voids which emerge from time to time, as the Modi government looks to cut trade ties with China and make India self-sufficient. The banning of 59 Chinese apps is a mere precursor to all that is about to follow. If done in a systematic and gradual manner, India can ramp up its own manufacturing capabilities in no time, and begin cutting down on imports from China simultaneously.

Indians will adapt to change, rest assured. To sit back and worry about the repercussions which cessation of excessive trade ties with China would have on India, would be purely idiotic. Rest assured, when the need arises, Indians will step up to the task and ensure that China is hit where it hurts CCP the most. The banning of 59 Chinese apps is the beginning of a permanent reset of Indo-China relations.