The Indian government has confirmed that TikTok will not be making a comeback in the country. Union IT, Information and Broadcasting and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said there is no proposal under consideration to lift the ban on the Chinese short-video platform.
In an interview with a business daily, Vaishnaw made it clear that the subject has not even been discussed within the government. “There is absolutely no proposal which has come from any quarters,” he said, addressing speculation that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance may be preparing for a re-entry into India.
Rumours intensified last month after TikTok’s website briefly became accessible on some broadband and mobile networks, including Airtel and Vodafone. The temporary glitch sparked social media chatter about a possible return. However, officials have now clarified that the platform remains banned.
TikTok was first restricted in India in June 2020 when the government blocked 59 Chinese apps citing concerns over national security and data privacy. Apple and Google removed the apps soon after, and the ban was made permanent in January 2021. At the time, India was TikTok’s largest market, with over 200 million users.
Other ByteDance-owned apps such as Helo and CapCut were also banned, while the company later had to shut down its music streaming service Resso in India after it was removed from app stores.
On whether Chinese investors could once again play a role in the Indian technology ecosystem, Vaishnaw said the government would take a transparent approach. “We will see as it happens. Policies will be clearly shared with everybody. We are a very transparent country,” he stated.
Before the restrictions, Chinese investors including Tencent, Alibaba, Ant Financial and Shunwei Capital were among the most active backers of Indian startups, funding sectors like e-commerce, fintech, food delivery, mobility, digital content and education.
In April 2020, the government tightened foreign direct investment rules through Press Note 3, making prior approval mandatory for investors from countries sharing land borders with India. This slowed down Chinese funding in the country, prompting many Indian startups to either reduce Chinese stakes or look for alternate sources of investment.
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