Roposo and ShareChat among biggest beneficiaries of Chinese app ban

Data provided by analytics platform Sensor Tower show that between June 29 and July 8 ShareChat downloads increased by 257 percent, whereas Roposo downloads grew 87 percent.

India’s recent ban on 59 Chinese apps, including the popular short video platform TikTok, has created new opportunities for homegrown apps like Roposo and ShareChat. Data provided by analytics platform Sensor Tower show that between June 29 and July 8 ShareChat downloads increased by 257 percent, whereas Roposo downloads grew 82 percent.

InMobi-owned Roposo was already a popular short-form video platform but its popularity shot up after the Indian government banned TikTok. Between June 19 and June 28, Roposo was downloaded by 4,900,000 smartphone users in India. But between June 29 and July 8, the downloads shot up to 8,900,000, an increase of 82 percent compared to the 10 days before. Roposo now claims it has over 65 million users in India.

ShareChat too saw a rise in downloads since India banned the Chinese apps including rival Helo, citing privacy and national security concerns. Between June 19 and June 28, the app was downloaded by 1,400,000 smartphone users. In the next 10-day period, ShareChat was downloaded by 5,000,000 smartphone users, an increase of 257 percent.

For millions of Indians, especially teens from the country’s interiors, TikTok was not only a source of entertainment but also a ticket to fame. But on June 29, TikTok, the app, owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, went off the radar after the government banned it along with 58 other Chinese-origin apps considered a “threat to national sovereignty”. The move came as a reaction to the border clash between the two countries earlier last month that left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead.

While Beijing and New Delhi agreed this week to mutually pull back troops, that hasn’t changed India’s decision to ban the apps. If the ban on TikTok and Helo continues, ByteDance may lose up to $6 billion, according to reports in Chinese state-controlled media.

Over the past few months, TikTok has enjoyed massive popularity internationally, including India. The popular app lets users create, share, and view short-form videos that are typically 15 to 60 seconds. TikTok is seen as a cultural phenomenon in India, where the app has been downloaded over 658 million times in India out of 2.3 billion installs worldwide.