The Indian government has entered into a limited partnership with China’s B2B platform Alibaba.com to connect startups and small businesses to the global market. This collaboration has been done under the Startup India initiative of the government. However, restrictions imposed on consumer apps from 2020 still remain in place and there is no official sign of TikTok’s return.
Focus on exports, distance from consumer apps
This partnership is not directly for consumers. Alibaba.com is a B2B (business-to-business) platform that connects more than 50 million active buyers with suppliers in more than 200 countries. The government’s aim behind this is that Indian startups and MSMEs can easily deliver their products to the international market. Therefore, it has been clearly said that this step is to increase exports and provide global market access. This has nothing to do with the withdrawal of consumer apps.
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Digital environment changed after 2020
After the India-China tension in Galwan Valley in 2020, the Indian government had banned many Chinese apps in view of national security. These included TikTok, PUBG Mobile and Ali Express. Talking about today, this cooperation is not being seen as a relaxation of the same strict policy, but as a limited and controlled business engagement.
So will TikTok make a comeback?
There is a lot of discussion in the tech industry regarding the question whether this partnership could be a sign of TikTok’s comeback in the future. Regarding which the government has made it clear that no, the ban is still continuing. India’s short video market has changed a lot in the last six years. Now platforms like Instagram dominate. Analysts believe that even if there is a comeback in future, it will be possible only with strict local controls or data localization model. There is no such indication at present.
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no compromise on security
Experts say that the government is working on a balanced strategy. On one hand, the government is focusing on increasing exports and connecting startups to the global market, under which limited partnerships have been made with B2B platforms like Alibaba.com through Startup India. On the other hand, there has been no relaxation on issues related to national security and restrictions on consumer apps like TikTok still continue. That is, India wants to take advantage of economic opportunities, but without compromising on security and keeping cooperation limited to the trade realm only.
