At YS Exclusive Digital India Townhall, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad says India's moment is now

Last Monday, the Indian government banned 59 mobile apps from China, including TikTok, ShareIt, and WeChat, terming them prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity, and national security of the country. Indian tech startups hailed the move, calling it a "digital swadeshi revolution", and many said they see this as the boost they need to grow.

Many Indian apps, built in India for India, saw an overnight surge in the number of downloads ever since the ban was announced. Here is a list of desi apps built by Indian companies with no Chinese funding.

Several of these are lesser-known Indian apps that are poised to power India's digital swadeshi apps revolution. Following the ban, several homegrown short video apps saw increasing traction. In fact, OTT operator ZEE5 also rolled out HiPi, which lets users create 90-second videos.

Commemorating five years of the Digital India initiative, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice, joined YourStory Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma, and several top Indian entrepreneurs in an exclusive digital town hall.

The Minister said that inclusion is central to his approach in digitising India, adding that the country is now aiming to have a $1T digital economy powered by startups. 

Last but not least, Reliance Jio raised $253 million from Intel's venture capital arm in its 12th foreign investment. Reliance Industries also launched its video conferencing app JioMeet, which will have unlimited free calling, and is being seen as a rival to Zoom.

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Quote of the day:

“India’s moment is here. Globally, the world is looking towards India, and startups are the engines of growth. Startups are creating new benchmarks and writing a new narrative in the empowerment of India."

– Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice

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