Presence of Chinese apps in the country drops post ban

A latest report by data measurement firm Nielsen reveals that ban on apps of Chinese origin by the Indian government has reduced their penetration from 81% to 29% in the country. It has also reduced the overall smartphone usage in the country with daily time spent coming down to 3 hours 14 minutes as of August from 3 hours 54 minutes in April and 3 hours 22 minutes pre-covid in January.

At the same time, according to findings of Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB), the ban has caused an estimated dent of Rs. 120 crore for the top 100 influencers. “The advertising market for these apps was pretty small so I don’t see that as a big loss. It will be in terms of user engagement that other apps will benefit,” however, said Karan Taurani, research analyst at Elara Capital Ltd.

Some of the Chinese apps that the Indian government had banned include Bytedance’s TikTok, Alibaba’s UC Browser, and others on grounds of national security and privacy concerns. Capitalising on the ban several competing homegrown brands have made their presence felt.