Downloads of 15 Miliion within 36 hours of banning of Chinese app- ShareChat says

After the government ban, 59 Chinese apps in India including the Tiktok app the Indian social media apps are gearing up.

ShareChat has recorded the downloads of 15 million within 36 hours of banning of Chinese apps in India. Hence ShareChat has become the largest Indian social media platform with 60 million monthly active monthly users.

Berges Malu, director of public policy at ShareChat states that while the platform is well poised to make the most of the opportunity that has opened up, the growth in terms of new users will be a gradual affair. He says, “It’s not an instant process – anyone that uses an app like TikTok is likely already using other social media platforms too, such as ShareChat itself. Hence, the overall growth of users will likely reflect over the coming weeks, once the network-level bans are imposed on these apps.”

ShareChat on Wednesday said it has clocked 15 million downloads within 36 hours of the announcement banning Chinese apps in India. The social media app was downloaded at a rate of 5 lakh per hour while the new users flooded the platform with over 1 lakh posts supportive of the government’s decision.

ShareChat is an Indian company founded by three IIT Kanpur graduates in 2015. It has prioritised communication in local languages, which includes posts, hashtags, creative banners, and posters. With the ban now effective in India, India’s internet population is moving to other options, which, at hand, are the Indian counterparts. ShareChat, an alternative to social media and content-creation platforms, has said the content on its platform is shared on WhatsApp over 1 billion times a month and that its users spend over 25 minutes daily on the app. It has over 160 million users now and 60 million monthly active users.

“We are excited to see the way people are exploring ShareChat for the endless possibilities it offers to the people and making it the preferred Indian social media platform,” said Farid Ahsan, COO, and Co-founder of ShareChat. “We are thankful for their continuous support and yet again, enabling us to emerge as the leader in the Indian social media landscape. We are confident that this sets up the foundation of another success for ShareChat.”

ShareChat’s Malu states that the ban is going to be more effective in the long run. “Bans like these create a void in the market, where there is a demand for a service. In such a space, there is already an existing user base, which in turn leads to investors getting attracted. This can certainly boost the Indian startup ecosystem in this space, and is something that may see stronger growth of homegrown services than before,” he adds.

ShareChat is a rival of the Chinese app TikTok which is banned in India now. Along with ShareChat, there are other apps like Chingari, Roposo and Mitron are also flourishing as the Indian public is more aware of the benefits of using the homegrown apps.

Biswatma Nayak, the co-founder of Chingari, stated in a report that subscriber count has spiked by 400 percent within the past few days in light of the anti-China sentiment. Sumit Ghosh, co-founder and head of product and growth at Chingari, has claimed that the app received 1 lakh downloads within 1 first hour.

Mayank Bhangadia, the founder of Roposo, also says “I am seeing the highest surge in user traffic that Roposo has seen to date. All things considered, I expect to see up to 10 million new users join Roposo today itself.”