The Chinese giant tech company ByteDance is in talks with Reliance Industries Limited in order to back TikTok’s business in India. Tiktok had 200 million user base in India. It had its business with a value of $3 Billion in India only. In June 2020, the Indian government banned the 58 Chinese applications after the tension between India and China over Galwan Valley. In one of the reports by TechCrunch, it stated that Reliance and ByteDance are in their early stages of discussions on Reliance investment in ByteDance and yet to finalize their deal.
Both the companies discussed the issue about a month back. However, neither Reliance nor ByteDance has officially declared about this deal. Around 2000 employees were working for ByteDance in India and now they have currently stopped hiring. The company has ensured that its employees will not be laid off and that they are in contact with the Government of India.
Earlier this week, another news came, that TikTok may return back to India only when Microsoft decides to buy it as a result of global expansion. Microsoft is in talks with ByteDance to take over their business corporation in the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The news is still uncertain due to the order given by President Trump on from the US after a 45-day deadline.
TikTok was banned by the Indian government along with 58 other Chinese apps which cited security concerns. As a follow-up, it further banned 47 phones. India has also created a list of more than 250 Chinese devices, including those linked to Alibaba and Tencent that it will check for any consumer privacy or national security breaches.
Tech companies like Facebook and Google recently announced their collaboration with Reliance. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani declared at the first-ever virtual Reliance AGM meeting that Google is investing Rs 33,737 crore in Jio Platforms.
Google CEO Pichai said the investment was made to launch a modified version of their mobile Android operating system to power Android smartphones at low cost. The investment will get a 7.7 per cent stake in Jio from Google. Facebook has invested $5.7 billion in Jio to gain a stake of close to 10 per cent. In partnership with WhatsApp, Mukesh Ambani introduced JioMart.
