BAN ON CHINESE APPS- BANE OR BOON

In response to the face-off with the Chinese forces on the Indo-China border in Ladakh on June 15, that killed 20 Indian soldiers, the Indian government on June 29 banned 59 apps of Chinese origin. This decision was taken to safeguard the "sovereignty and integrity of India". TikTok, ShareIt, Kwai, UC Browser, Shein and Clash of Kings are few among the 59 apps that have banned. This ban significantly narrows a top growth market for Chinese technology firms and can have far reaching impacts like other countries doing the same. India has been the biggest driver of TikTok installs accounting for 611 million downloads. This act will surely sting its mooted valuation of 110 billion. However, this affects India as well. 18 of India's 30 big companies have Chinese funding. The new investment rules and rising anti-China sentiment may affect the flow of capital which will hurt growth. Moreover, imposing this ban will also not be easy.

Digital and Technology experts say that it will be difficult to execute the ban as it would require internet service providers to blacklist every host name and domain name associated with these apps. In addition to this it would also require Google and Apple to remove these apps from their stores, which could expose users to unofficial versions of the apps. Experts said that the companies upload the official version of their apps on the App Store and Play Store but even when the apps are taken down from these platforms, users can download unofficial versions from the web. Moreover, the companies do not roll out updates for the version found on the web. Updates generally fix vulnerabilities which can be exploited by hackers and cyber criminals. This poses additional security threats.

Users of banned browsers may find it easier to shift to other alternatives. For the UC Browser, we have the Jio web browser as an alternative, Jio Meet for Zoom, Adobe Scan for CamScanner and Chingari for TikTok.

Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that India aims to surpass China and become the number one mobile phone manufacturing hub in the world. He also stated that when the Hon'ble Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi asked for new Indian apps to come into existence, especially as an alternative to Chinese apps, 200 new applications had come in.

This move by the Indian government has been extremely beneficial for Indian Companies too , as they are generating more revenue , and as they grow bigger , more people are getting employed . The Indian Telecom Company Jio , became the second largest in the world , and its' owner , Mukesh Ambani , became the 6th richest person in the world , surpassing warren buffet . This also attracted companies like Google and Microsoft , who entered into partnerships with Jio . Hence it is plausible to say that going anti - Chinese products has been beneficial to India is helping all Indian Companies achieve the goal of #MakeInIndia and #VocalForLocal.