In July 2019, it was stated that the company will build a data center in India within 6 to 18 months.

Editor’s note: This article comes from the WeChat public account “financial graffiti” (ID: caijingtuya)

Author: step shake

Edit: tuya

According to “Financial Graffiti”, in order to deepen its foundation in India, ByteDance is seeking to establish a second corporate entity in India.

According to the news quoted by the Indian Economic Times, the new entity established by ByteDance will provide information technology and IT-based support for all ByteDance platforms and businesses worldwide, including TikTok India, social media application Helo India, and The company will also handle content generated across various platforms and other issues faced by ByteDance across regions.

Byte Beat is expected to apply to the Indian government and regulatory agencies such as the Ministry of Industry and Internal Trade Promotion (DPIIT) in the coming weeks. It also hopes to increase local staff and transfer data and technology to India.

The current operating entity of ByteDance in India is ByteDance India Service Limited. As of November 2019, the company has more than 500 employees in India and plans to double it by the end of the year. ByteDance has more than 60,000 employees worldwide and 15 R&D centers.

The establishment of the India Center may be related to the recent setbacks encountered by ByteDance in India. In the first half of 2019, TikTok was imposed an interim injunction by the Indian government. On behalf of ByteDance, AbHishek Manu Singhvi, a senior lawyer who attended the hearing of the Supreme Court of India, revealed that the company lost every day for this 45 million Indian rupees (about 4.48 million yuan). In addition, TikTok was scored 1.2 points by Indian netizens for posting sulfuric acid attack video, and was awarded by the Indian Women’s Committee The person in charge publicly criticized the media and requested that TikTok be banned. Since the launch of TikTok in India, it has been stuck due to the release of content such as fake newControversy such as information transmission, child abuse and discrimination against women.

In spite of this, India is still one of the largest markets for short video app TikTok. In 2019, Indian users spent more than 5.5 billion hours on TikTok. As of December 2019, TikTok has accumulated 2 billion users worldwide. The app has 611 million downloads in the Indian market. The number of TikTok monthly active users (MAU) has increased by 90% year-on-year to 81 million. TikTok, Helo and Vigo Video has more than 250 million users in India.

In July 2019, a spokesperson for ByteDance said that the company will establish a data center in India within the next 6 to 18 months, with an initial investment of US$100 million.

Byte Beat earlier said earlier that it will invest US$1 billion in India in the next three years, and the data center is also part of the byte beat of USD 1 billion. Currently, the TikTok and Helo apps of ByteDance store both Indian users’ data in the United States and Singapore. The data center was established to ease the unstable relationship with India and avoid losing the Indian market.

Bytedance expresses this, which is consistent with our continuous efforts to ensure that the best interests of local users are kept in mind.

Byte Beat penetrates the Indian market beyond TikTok and Helo products. During the new crown epidemic at the beginning of this year, ByteDance’s Lark provided free office collaboration software in India to compete for the Indian market.

Lark is a collaboration platform that brings together tools, including Messenger, online documents and forms, cloud storage, calendars, and video conferencing. Lark was launched in India in August 2019, with customers in retail, manufacturing, IT services, logistics and education. Lark has stated that it has extended free services to educational institutions across India, including schools, colleges and coaching classes, to help achieve remote office.

In December last year, ByteDance launched the music streaming service “Resso” in India to compete with competitors such as Gaana, JioSaavn and Spotify in the Indian market. Resso is mainly for users between 18 and 24 years old, and it contains many social functions.

According to previous reports from the Indian Economic Times, ByteDance’s revenue in India has reached Rs 437 crore (RMB 43.42 million) and profit is Rs 34 million (RMB 3.38 million). But at the same time, according to ByteDance India’s financial report data, service fees account for almost 95% of TikTok’s total revenue (43.72 Indian rupees), former Disney executive Kevin Mayer as ByteDance COO TikTok Global CEO.

The international pressure has also caused byte beating to have some actions. According to foreign media reports, in December 2019, ByteDance has considered selling a portion of TikTok when necessary to protect the value of the company. The most likely sale plan is that the company sells equity to institutional investors.