Homegrown video-sharing app ‘Chingari’, which was launched in November 2018, has been witnessing a steady rise in its traffic ever since calls to boycott Chinese products gained momentum on social media. The demand for indigenous or ‘Made-in-India’ services has been growing, especially after the violent clash between India and China at Galwan Valley in Ladakh.
Overwhelmed by the success of his venture, Sumit Ghosh, one of the co-founders of the platform informed that Chingari had surpassed all records of the past. He stated, “Approximately 10,000 users per min in the app. 3 million videos are being swiped/watched per hour. 26 million videos have been watched in the last 24 hours. 90,000 new users joining the app per hour. And guess what? Our tech and Infra handles it with ease”.
https://twitter.com/sumitgh85/status/1277917870035333120?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwAs per Google Analytics data shared by Sumit Ghosh on Twitter, Chingari has users not just from India but also from United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and even the United States.
https://twitter.com/sumitgh85/status/1277509385896394752?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwOn June 24, co-founder of Chinagri, Biswatma Nayak, had taken to Twitter to express his happiness after the app suppressed 1 million downloads on the Google play store. The feat was achieved in just 24 hours, with an increase of more than 5,00,000 users.
https://twitter.com/thebiswatma/status/1275657239215443969?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwEarlier, industrialist Anand Mahindra also applauded the homegrown app and tweeted, “I hadn’t ever downloaded TikTok but I have just downloaded Chingari… More power to you.”
https://twitter.com/sumitgh85/status/1277146589845270528?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwWhat is ‘Chingari’?
Hailed as an alternative to Chinese TikTok, Chingari was developed by Sumit Ghosh, Siddharth Gautam and Biswatma Nayak. The app is available in multiple languages such as Bangla, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Punjabi, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu. Besides creating content, the Indian app allows users to socialise and browse trending and entertainment news, funny videos, song videos, love quotes, and so on. Users can watch, download, and even share information or entertainment videos with friends and family. It also allows people to earn money on the basis of the virality of the videos. Views can be converted into points and then monetised.
TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps banned
On Monday, the Government of India banned 59 apps including TikTok over security and privacy concerns. The Ministry of Information Technology, invoking its power under section 69A of Information Technology Act, with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 has ordered a block on the use of 59 apps saying that these apps are “engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order”.