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The clarification comes after TikTok’s website briefly became accessible last month on a few broadband and mobile networks, including Airtel Broadband and Vodafone.
On the possibility of the return of Chinese investors, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “We will see as it happens.” (File Photo)
Union Minister for IT, Information and Broadcasting, and Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw has ruled out any move to bring back TikTok in India. In an interview with Moneycontrol, Vaishnaw said, “There is absolutely no proposal which has come from any quarters.”
The clarification comes after TikTok’s website briefly became accessible last month on a few broadband and mobile networks, including Airtel Broadband and Vodafone, sparking speculation that the Chinese short-video app could re-enter the Indian market. The app, owned by China’s ByteDance, was among the 59 applications blocked by the government in June 2020 over national security concerns.
Apple and Google subsequently removed TikTok from their app stores, and in January 2021, the Centre made the ban permanent. Before the suspension, India had been TikTok’s largest market, with more than 200 million users.
The government’s 2020 order also took down other ByteDance offerings such as Helo and CapCut. In January this year, Moneycontrol reported that ByteDance had also shut its music-streaming app Resso in India after it was pulled from app stores on government directions.
On the possibility of the return of Chinese investors, Vaishnaw said, “We will see as it happens.”
“Policies will be clearly shared with everybody. We are a very transparent country,” the minister said.
Until 2020, Chinese investors such as Tencent, Alibaba, Ant Financial and Shunwei Capital were among the largest backers of the Indian startup ecosystem, collectively investing billions in domestic startups across e-commerce, fintech, food delivery, mobility, digital content and edtech.
In April 2020, the government tightened the FDI policy through Press Note 3, requiring prior approval for investments from countries sharing a land border with India. This move made Chinese investments significantly harder, prompting several Indian start-ups to reduce stake or offer exit to investors, and look for alternative sources of capital.
Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h…Read More
Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h… Read More
September 08, 2025, 17:49 IST
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