TikTok’s Return To India Not On The Table, Confirms IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

TikTok fans in India hoping for the app’s return will have to wait indefinitely. Union IT, Information and Broadcasting, and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has made it clear that the government has no plans to lift the ban on the popular short-video platform.

In an interview with Moneycontrol, Vaishnaw dismissed recent speculation around TikTok’s re-entry. “There is absolutely no proposal which has come from any quarters,” he said, adding that the issue has not even been discussed within the government.

Rumours gained traction last month when TikTok’s website became accessible on certain broadband and mobile networks, including Airtel and Vodafone. This sparked discussion on social media that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, might be preparing a comeback. However, officials have now clarified that this was not the case.

Indian government first banned TikTok along with 58 other Chinese apps in June 2020, citing concerns over data privacy and national security. Apple and Google were quick to remove the apps from the App Store and Play Store, respectively. By January 2021, the restrictions were made permanent. At the time of the ban, India was TikTok’s largest market, with more than 200 million users.

The ban also affected other ByteDance products such as Helo and CapCut, while its music app Resso was later pulled from app stores in India.

When asked about Chinese investment in Indian tech firms, Vaishnaw said the government will remain open but transparent in its approach. “We will see as it happens. Policies will be clearly shared with everybody. We are a very transparent country,” he noted.

Before the clampdown, Chinese investors like Tencent, Alibaba, Ant Financial, and Shunwei Capital had pumped significant funds into Indian startups across e-commerce, fintech, mobility, and education. But with the government’s Press Note 3 in April 2020, any investment from countries sharing land borders with India now requires prior approval, significantly slowing Chinese capital flow into the country.

For now, TikTok remains firmly off-limits, with no signs of a reversal.