Amidst calls to boycott Chinese products in the wake of India-China standoff at the border, a homegrown app named Chingari had reportedly been gaining momentum in the Indian digital space. Hailed as an alternative to Chinese TikTok, Chingari was developed by Sumit Ghosh, Biswatma Nayak, and Siddharth Gautam, mobile application developers from Chattisgarh, Odisha, and Karnataka respectively. With over a million downloads to its name and 4.6 stars and 23,000 reviews, the Indian entertainment app is set to compete against its Chinese counterpart.
Sumit Ghosh, Product Head of Chingari, informed that it took him two years to develop the app. He stated that the app has been customised to meet the demands of Indian users. Although released in November 2018, Chingari has started gaining traction recently. Ghosh highlighted, “We are receiving an overwhelming response from Indian users, and as per recent stats, the App has more than 25 lakh plus downloads. This is the only social application developed in India which is a complete rival to TikTok App.”
As per the report, Chingari 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.
Co-founder of Chingari praises ‘Vocal for Local’ initiative
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given us the clarion call of ‘Vocal for Local’ and Chingari has been developed completely in India. It is the best replacement for video entertainment apps by foreign firms. Chingari isn’t a clone of some foreign app but has been designed in keeping with the needs of Indian users. It is time for all of us to switch to Indian made apps like Chingari,” co-founder Nayak was quoted as saying.
Youtube challenges TikTok with 15-second videos
On Wednesday, Youtube announced that it will test a new feature on its app that would allow users to upload 15-second multi-segment videos. Just like TikTok, users can tap and hold the ‘record’ option to create a video. The app will then combine the clips and post them as a single video, similar to TikTok. The introduction of the new feature implies that mobile videos that are longer than 15 seconds can no longer be uploaded from the Youtube app itself while using this new feature. Users will have to record the long-form videos first and then post it on Youtube from their phone gallery.
Sonam Wangchuk urges Indians to boycott Chinese products
Earlier, Sonam Wangchuk, Ladakh based innovator and education reformist, and the inspiration behind the character Phunsukh Wangdu in the movie 3 Idiots, had taken to his Youtube channel to urge fellow Indians to boycott Chinese products. “The money spent by us on Chinese products will be used by the Government to arm their soldiers. We should not be funding the martyrdom of our own army personnel,” he concluded. Wangchuk also cited the example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and explained how the boycott of Chinese products can turn out to be a boon for the Indian economy
