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Short video content platform <keyword id="9295153" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="bolo-indya">Bolo Indya</keyword> on Monday said it has launched its live streaming feature Bolo-Live for a wider audience. The Bolo-Live streaming feature comes with an integrated real time gamification in a form of gifting option where <keyword id="2205897" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="creators">creators</keyword> can be rewarded by their follower base basis the content quality, density as well as the engagement which can be redeemed in cash on the Bolo Indya platform. The platform, which claims to have over 68 lakh users including 28.5 lakh creators, spread across 14 languages, said that Bolo-Live has already crossed 1 lakh monthly micro transactions during its soft launch. With the new service offering, Bolo Indya expects its creator income to grow by 300 per cent by December 2021. "Through live streaming, Bolo Indya's 'equal opportunity' algorithms infuse new life to engagement between short video creators and their followers," <keyword id="1278463" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varun-Saxena">Varun Saxena</keyword>, Founder and CEO, Bolo Indya, said in a statement. "As we embark on a journey to enable a 360-degree stack of content consumption for our users and earning for creators, we are confident that Bolo Live will be able to drive closer connect, bond and credibility amongst our users as well as creators and help them gain more revenues for their content creation ability," he added. As part of Bolo-Live, creator partners on the platform will now have an added streaming feature to go live, to deliver their specialised skills-based services as well as other highly engaging content to their follower base in the language of their choice. Users can send their favourite live performing creators, a wider variety of digital gifts right from a rose for ₹10 to even a space rocket for ₹500 to a special occasion premium gift for ₹1000. With real time gamification, integrated in these broadcasting sessions, users can emerge as the top fans of their favourite creators in a broadcasting session and win incentives or goodies from their favourite creators. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/deutsche-bank-plans-to-hire-1000-freshers-in-india-as-it-looks-to-build-core-technologies-in-house/articleshow/81147886.cms">INTERVIEW: Deutsche Bank plans to hire 1,000 freshers in India as it looks to build core technologies in-house</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/banks/news/analysts-reports-showed-that-90-percent-of-unsecured-retail-loans-have-gone-to-salaried-government-employees/articleshow/81150110.cms">One in every five rupees lent by SBI to individuals, goes to government employees</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/nasa-finds-black-mold-fungus-can-survive-on-mars/articleshow/81152258.cms">NASA finds black mold fungus can survive on Mars — and it poses a threat to astronauts</a>

Bolo Indya app rolls out a live streaming feature and a virtual gifting option for creators

<ul><li>Bolo Indya has launched a Peer-to-Peer e-commerce platform called Bolo Meets. It is already gaining popularity amongst the creators as its engagement rate has increased by over 89%. </li><li>It is also hoping that its creators would earn around 1 lakh per month by the end of this fiscal year. </li><li>We speak to Bolo Indya's Founder, <keyword id="1278463" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varun-Saxena">Varun Saxena</keyword>, to understand the idea behind the platform, its revenue model, and larger goals for the on-going quarter.</li></ul>Launched in May 2019, homegrown short-form video app Bolo Indya has been on an exponential growth trajectory. It currently has over 65 lakh Monthly Active Users across Android and IOS and 33 lakh Daily Active Users. It sees over 15 lakh videos being created on a daily basis. It has also completed the Pre-series A1 funding of $500K and is working closely with over 70 brands. Bolo Indya was seeing a steady 25% M-o-M growth even when TikTok was around and eating the bigger chunk of the pie. However, TikTok did not offer its users an option to create content in their regional language and since the beginning, Bolo Indya embarked upon a mission to offer monetary benefits to its creators and take them beyond social gratifications and brand partnerships, which has helped it create a niche in the highly cluttered space. As a result, after June when TikTok was out of the picture, it started growing by 80% M-o-M. The pandemic-induced lockdown pushed the entire country to move to digital platforms for their primary source of entertainment, which also opened up an opportunity for OTT players and UGC apps to rise to the situation and offer their users a reason to spend more time on their platforms as they were quarantined 24*7. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Bolo Indya launched an engagement-led Peer2Peer e-commerce service called Bolo Meets. Bolo Meets is already gaining popularity amongst the creators with an increased engagement rate of over 89%. Its top 250 creators are earning in the range of Rs 50,000-60,000 per month using P2P services available on the platform. Sharing the idea behind Bolo Meets, Varun Saxena, Founder, Bolo Indya, said, “We realised that our creators have a lot of expertise they can offer on the basis of the social capital they build. Short videos in local languages are expected to see a demand of over 80 million users by 2022, just 4th to Youtube, Payments and E-Commerce. This is where Bolo Indya wants to bring in the amalgamation of user-generated content, influencer impact and structured discoverability to build a product which adds contextual value to the time spent on internet by regional language users. So that’s how we arrived at the concept of Bolo Meets.” Explaining how the service will work, Saxena said, “Creators on the platform will now have an added feature to create and deliver their specialized skills-based services to their follower base. Sessions can be facilitated either through one-to-one private video chat room, or a group video session with a maximum of 10 people in one session. These video sessions can be availed by the users through micropayments to book the slots for their favourite creators’ sessions. We had launched this feature in May 2020 for a limited set of audience, even before TikTok was banned. 257 creators used the service between May to September and were earning in the range of 50,000-60,000. There is no upper cap on how much they can earn.” Bolo Meets has categories like Astrology, Fitness, Music, Dance, Instruments, Comedy, Personal Finance, Relationships, and Mental wellness. Average ticket size for the sessions start from as low as Rs 100 for a personalised astrology service, and goes up to Rs 5000 for someone willing to learn a language or dance set. 22-year-old Ishban Yadav, one of the younger creators on Bolo Indya with over 5.5 lakh followers, has seen his income triple after Bolo Meets launch. “From 257 creators on Bolo Meets, we expect to close December with 25,000+ creators using this service. Our transactions are also increasing month-on-month. Today, creators who are earning in the range of 50,000-60,000, with the scale which we are going to achieve in next few months, we expect this earning to reach around 1 lakh per month for the top 50% of our creators by the time we will end this financial year,” shared Saxena. The platform currently has over 28 lakh creators, spread across 14 languages. With its unique service offering, Bolo Indya now expects its creator base to grow by 300% by March 2021. Talking about the strategy behind increasing its creators base, Saxena said, “We expect that our overall creator base will increase by 4X in the next 3-6 months, which will help us increase our user base as well because we will have high quality creators. We don't need to pay a hefty amount to the creators, unlike our peers, to come create content on our platform that happens organically. This brings down our content acquisition cost and our consumers are pulled because of quality content. Through organic content, you also see a surge in distribution. Today, almost 10 million pieces are shared on WhatsApp and Telegram every month. This network will only become stronger with the launch of Bolo Meets.” Vision for the app Saxena told us that he envisions the app to cross 10 crore active users by the end of 2021 and continue spending an average of 60 minutes on the app. With the launch of Bolo Meets, the platform’s aim was to increase engagement on its platform and now, it would focus on polishing its creators skillset and increase its visibility among a larger consumer base. “We had one thing in mind this time. Whatever we create, it has to be a daily use case and high-frequency case. We don’t see Bolo Indya as a typical short video platform. We see it translating into a larger consumer internet company in the next few years, where it comes at the top of the funnel for a creator and user. We offer videos to get users hooked to spend more and more time on the app, gradually discover social services and avail them and creators are able to turn their social capital into financial independence. We don’t want to create a story of user growth, we want to write a story of user retention and impact that we have on the lives of social creators,” said Saxena. Bolo Indya has also built a strong team after TikTok’s ban. It is now a team of 28 employees, with people from ShareChat, Byte Dance, BharatPe, PhonePe, Ola Money, and Times Internet and is only expanding. It is also planning to expand its services to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Sharing the app's larger vision, Saxena said, “We are on the mission to leverage the power of short videos, peer-to-peer commerce and network effect to empower every content creator of Bharat to go viral in the shortest span of time and be able to monetize by leveraging the social capital. We are working towards building a daily use case for local language short videos consumption and see ourselves to be on at least one smartphone of every Indian household with a non-English user within the span of next 18 months." Bolo Indya doesn’t measure its success rate on the number of app installs. Saxena told us that the platform will always measure its growth story by how much its creators are earning and by December 2021, Bolo Indya wants to see its top 50% of the creators earning at least 1.5 lakh per month. Saxena further shared with us its marketing strategy and focus area for the on-going quarter. Watch the interview below to know more: <div type="Video" msid="79249230" hostid="261" title="Here's what Bolo Indya's P2P e-commerce platform is all about" dataSource="BUSINESSINSIDER" thumbUrl="https://denmark.timesinternet.in/cmslite/api/app/images.jpg?msid=79249230"></div>

Bolo Indya expects its creator base to grow by 300% by March 2021 after adding a P2P e-commerce service

Here's what Bolo Indya's P2P e-commerce platform is all about

<ul><li>The ban on TikTok gave homegrown app <keyword id="9295153" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="bolo-indya">Bolo Indya</keyword> a huge boost. </li><li>Within 24 hours of the ban, Bolo Indya saw 62 minute+ daily time spent by active users, at par with time spent on TikTok, more than 5 times of time spent on other homegrown applications. </li><li>We spoke to <keyword id="1278463" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varun-Saxena">Varun Saxena</keyword>, Co-Founder, Bolo Indya to understand how he envisions to take its 26 lakh MAU to 10 crore by end of 2021, what helps it stand out in the clutter and monetisation plan. </li></ul> TikTok has left a new playing field for the homegrown video platforms. Bolo Indya, a User Generated Content video app, saw a spike in its user count with 25 lakh users connecting with it in the same week the ban on 59 Chinese apps was announced by the Government of India. Today, Bolo Indya’s MAU stands at 36 lakh and DAU at 22 lakh, with users spending close to 62 min per day and creating over 15 lakh on the platform. Launched in May 2019, the platform was seeing a steady 22% M-o-M growth, even when TikTok was around and eating the bigger chunk of the pie. However, TikTok did not offer its users an option to create content in their regional language. Bolo Indya recognised this gap and decided to focus on localisation, empowering its talented users by making sure they earn at least Rs 30,000 a month through <keyword id="987108" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="content-marketing">content marketing</keyword> and on its video chatting feature. Bolo Indya was quick to realise its strengths and started building on it by monetising its application towards the end of 2019. Then came the pandemic-induced lockdown which pushed the entire country to move to digital platforms for their primary source of entertainment, which also opened up an opportunity for OTT players and UGC apps to rise to the situation and offer their users a reason to spend more time on their platforms as they were quarantined 24*7. As a result, three months into 2020, Bolo Indya surpassed its 2019 revenue. Explaining the revenue model, Varun Saxena, Co-Founder, Bolo Indya, said, “Our revenue model at scale will see platform fee out of video commerce for services as a major contributor to revenue. Currently, a major part of revenue is coming from Content Marketing where we have clients from both India and the US.” Sustaining the growth While there are quite a few other homegrown platforms that are doing well as a direct result of TikTok's ban, Saxena says Bolo Indya was around even before the movement to boycott Chinese products started rising in the country. He is confident that even if TikTok comes back, Bolo Indya will continue to achieve its goals. On what differentiates the app to stand out in the clutter, Saxena said, “We had always been building towards giving a better alternative than TikTok. We allow content creators to leverage passion economy through short videos in regional languages and become financially independent. Thus, we never revolve around just ad based-model unlike all other short video apps which are just the pixel to pixel replica of TikTok, be it content flavor or business model. This means that in the middle term when and if TikTok returns, just its xerox apps would find it challenging to sustain, while Bolo Indya would continue to grow, just like we were when Tiktok was there.” Currently, content creators as well as consumers are exploring all the possible options available in the market to find a permanent home. For Bolo Indya, the challenge is not to attract new users but to retain what it has already acquired. “This storm will settle down till Diwali 2020 and that's when we will have a clearer picture of which platform among Indian apps is emerging as a winner. For example, we have over 82% retention of the users who have come to us over the last 10 days, while some of the other apps have less than 20% as their social media posts,” said Saxena. He also anticipates that TikTok will come back and is preparing his team to be ready when it does. He has also on-boarded an experienced Partnerships Head in his team to strengthen its monetisation plan. “We are preparing majorly for the situation when the TikTok ban is lifted because we expect it to happen in a few months. Thus, our core differentiation for creators shall continue to be the reason for them to stick to us, and use Tiktok simultaneously, while other apps may find it a lot more challenging to retain the users as so far they have not offered anything different than TikTok to content creators or consumers,” he shared. Vision for the app Saxena told us that he envisions the app to cross 10 crore active users by the end of 2021 and continue spending an average of 60 minutes on the app. “We have a vision where we foresee Bolo Indya being on at least one smartphone in every Indian household. At the same time, we want to take India's regional users' talent, experiences, opinions and skills to a global stage in sync with the Vocal for Local campaign of Prime minister, and have our creators leverage the global stage for both popularity and earning,” said Saxena.

Bolo Indya’s founder wants to offer every consumer and content creator an opportunity to earn through content marketing

<ul><li><keyword id="9502816" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="boxengage-com">Boxengage.com</keyword> was launched during the lockdown. </li><li>The AI-backed live-streaming app has grown 10X in the last 24 hours. </li><li>Currently, boxengage.com is only a website and would shortly launch its mobile app.</li></ul>Boxengage.com, an Indian-alternative of Tiktok during the lockdown, sees a 10X surge in active-user mark within 24 hours. Boxengage.com is designed for the requirement of Indian customers wherein both the content creator and visitors can do much more than simply follow or comment on their influencer. Any kind of content creator across all categories can connect with their followers via multiple ways, such as, live streaming, posting videos, or even holding private sessions with their celebs or influencers and this engagement-based platform is making users stick much more on the platform. Boxengage.com, has been co-founded by entrepreneurs <keyword id="2749060" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varun-Bajaj">Varun Bajaj</keyword>, <keyword id="9502815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="shivaarti-bajaj">Shivaarti Bajaj</keyword>, <keyword id="144780" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vikas-Jain">Vikas Jain</keyword> (leading technology) and Ankur Saxena (leading business operations). On seeing a hike in downloads, Varun Bajaj, Co-Founder of Boxengage.com, said, “Banning these Chinese apps, especially Tiktok is a great step as apart from major data-privacy issues due to Chinese origin, there was a huge debate around the limited social message of TikTok as a digital product, as the product was made keeping the Chinese mindset in mind." "Having said that, we would want to thank the Indian customers and Indian influencers, who have given such a positive response on BoxEngage.com. Our feedback has shown, Boxengage.com is winning over the Chinese-counterpart considering it has been Made in India keeping in mind the requirements of the Indian users. Therefore, Indian-customers virality has evidenced that they have loved Boxengage.com having much-more advanced engagement use-cases”, he added. Currently, boxengage.com, in order to address all privacy concerns, is a website only, and would shortly launch its mobile app. Furthermore, content creators/influencers can monetize by being on boxengage.com directly.

BoxEngage.com, an Indian alternative of TikTok, sees 10X in the last 24 hours

<ul><li><keyword id="3749909" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bytedance">ByteDance</keyword> fired hundreds of employees in India, as the ban on Chinese apps including the company’s popular app TikTok remains banned in the country.</li><li>Looking at it as another opportunity to grow, <keyword id="9489739" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="TikTok-rival-apps">TikTok rival apps</keyword> in India have said they are open to hiring employees from the Chinese giant ByteDance who were let go. </li><li>Startups like <keyword id="9295153" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="bolo-indya">Bolo Indya</keyword>, <keyword id="40682" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chingari">Chingari</keyword> have opened doors for former employees of ByteDance.</li></ul>On Wednesday morning, ByteDance fired hundreds of employees in India, as the ban on Chinese apps including the company’s popular app TikTok remains banned in the country. And once again, Indian short video apps are here to the rescue. Looking at it as another opportunity to grow, TikTok rival apps in India have said they are open to hiring employees from the Chinese giant ByteDance who were let go. Bolo Indya said that it will ramp up its team by recruiting people from the Bytedance platforms like Tiktok and Helo for various profiles including business development, user engagement, product management, community management, content strategy, content moderation functions, along with VP and AVP positions. "It is unfortunate to see Indian talent in a fix as a result of Chinese app ban in India. Indians working in these companies are highly talented, enthusiastic, committed, and passionate to create a positive impact. We look forward to onboard quite a few of them where there is a strong cultural fit as well and have them as part of our journey to empower content creators to transform social capital to financial independence, and at the same time ensure a high user delight in consuming content on the platform,” said Varun Saxena, CEO and Founder Bolo Indya. Another startup that opened up its doors for ByteDance employees is Chingari. Sumit Ghosh, co-founder of Chingari, took to Twitter to announce the same. <div type="twitter" handle="sumitgh85" handlename="Sumit Ghosh" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/596246728967196672/uQ90f5hu_normal.jpg" favoritecount="349" retweetcount="97" status="Ex-Bytedance employees who are looking for challenging work in the same space, feel free to reach out to me." createdat="1611766880000" id="1354474586402787329"></div> TikTok was banned in late June by the Indian government, as were 58 other Chinese apps in the middle of rising tensions at the India-China border. Soon after, over hundred other Chinese apps were banned in the country over privacy and data concerns. As soon as India banned Chinese apps <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/checkout-the-name-of-the-chinese-banned-apps-in-india/articleshow/76696132.cms">on June 29</a>, Chingari began to get 100,000 downloads per hour and has crossed over 10 million in downloads on Google Play Store – while also adding 3-4 million users per day in July, 2020. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/indigo-narrow-down-its-losses-in-q3-passenger-capacity-and-airfare-capping-continues-to-hamper-its-business/articleshow/80502547.cms">IndiGo narrow down its losses in Q3 — passenger capacity and airfare capping continues to hamper its business</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/indian-grooming-startup-bombay-shaving-company-gets-45-crore-investment-from-dettol-maker-reckitt-benckiser/articleshow/80491558.cms">Indian grooming startup Bombay Shaving Company gets ₹45 crore investment from Dettol maker Reckitt Benckiser</a>

Now, TikTok rival apps in India offer to hire fired employees from Bytedance

<ul><li>The Indian founders had earlier called the ban on Chinese apps as the atmanirbhar moment for India’s entrepreneurs.</li><li>To handle the surge in users and traffic, the startups are now also aggressively hiring to better their offerings. </li><li>Here are all the openings in short-form video apps in India.</li></ul>On June 29, TikTok got banned in India along with 58 other Chinese apps. And since that very moment, India’s rival apps of the Chinese giant have seen their user base jump up by millions. The Indian founders even called this the atmanirbhar moment for India’s entrepreneurs."This is the digital atmanirbhar moment that most Indians have been rooting for,” said Naveen Tewari, founder and CEO of InMobi Group which owns Roposo. Indian entrepreneurs believe with this, ‘Made in India’ apps will get a boost as they won’t be fighting with Chinese companies, who have the cash to spend and build a userbase. “The move can be hugely beneficial for Indian companies considering the potential Indian startups have in terms of creating our own TikTok, We Chat, Baidu. Many others are all poised to make it big with the scale our country provides and absence of Chinese competitors with deep pockets,” Sandeep Singh, founder and president, Khabri. But to handle the surge in users and traffic, the startups are now also aggressively hiring to better their offerings. Here are all the openings in short-form video apps in India Chingari Chingari has got over 16million users in just 25 days and was trending in the top apps on the Google Playstore. The team needs 10-15 people right away to help with the surge in traffic – UI/UX designers, engineers and more. <div type="twitter" handle="adityakothari" handlename="Aditya Kothari" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1181273690819817472/ylFghAkJ_normal.jpg" favoritecount="109" retweetcount="37" status="Looking for a docker/kubernetes/backend architect for @Chingari_IN . If you're looking to build a backend infra, an… https://t.co/BBQtJ4Rl8C" createdat="1594502330000" id="1282061813891227649"></div> Bolo Indya Bolo Indya – which works as an infotainment app, was another to build on success after TikTok’s ban. “There was a huge jump in user increase in first 24 hours of the ban, and we saw over 2.5 lakh installs, with 87% of these signing up and creating videos and 1.27 crore videos were created in June,” said Varun Saxena, Co-Founder, Bolo Indya. The company said that it has continued its hiring activities even during lockdown and 3 new members have joined during lockdown phase while 2 more will be joining next month. Simultaneously, the company has aggressive hiring plans in technology teams across Android, AI and ML roles with remote interactions. “We took lockdown and its consequences as an opportunity to interact with some extraordinary talents and explore the synergies to join us on our mission to enable Bharat to transform social capital to financial independence through short videos in regional languages. We did not do a single lay off, and continue to strengthen the team with the right fits who share the same passion, ambition and motivation,” said Saxena. The company currently has 15-20 vacancies. <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[]]></cdata></div> Interested candidates can apply by writing to hr@boloindya.com Mitron TV The app which shot to fame even before TikTok was banned, is also aggressively hiring. The app’s co-founder Anish Khandelwal took to LinkedIn to share that the company is currently looking for android developers and backend developers with over two years experience. <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[]]></cdata></div> Interested candidates can apply by writing to career@mitron.tv Khabri Khabri helps users create podcasts and also caters to the Hindi-speaking market in India. The company said that it already had 40,000 influencers on the platform, and with the ban on TikTok it got 5000 new influencers in two days. The company is currently <a href="https://angel.co/company/khabriapp/jobs/671317-product-manager-growth">hiring </a>a product manager among other roles. Trell Another TikTok rival app in India – Trell has now crossed 45 million downloads with 5 million daily active users, claims the company. “We are very excited to see the regular developments on the platform and the increasing interest from users and content creators. With this opportunity, the Indian Internet startups can grow faster and build a superior experience for the consumers in the long run which was being capped by the established players earlier,” said Pulkit Agarwal, Co-Founder, Trell. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/therapy-and-mental-health-is-important-for-startup-founders-to-survive-the-near-death-moments-in-business/articleshow/76931948.cms">This Indian entrepreneur started going to therapy and recommends it to startup founders to survive the ‘near death’ moments in business</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/zomato-journey-from-a-weekend-project-to-a-3-billion-company/articleshow/76901180.cms">Zomato turns 12 – from a weekend project to a $3 billion company, here’s the startup’s journey over the years</a>

From Chingari to Mitron TV – TikTok clone apps in India are now aggressively hiring to handle the user surge

<ul><li>The Indian government banned the popular Chinese video sharing platform <keyword id="6762469" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="TikTok">TikTok</keyword> on Monday night. </li><li><keyword id="7536657" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="tiktok-in-india">TikTok in India</keyword> has several rivals like Chingari, Bolo Indya, Roposo, Khabri and even the very recently launched Mitron.</li><li>Indian entrepreneurs believe with this, ‘Made in India’ apps will get a boost as they won’t be fighting with Chinese companies.</li></ul>The Indian government banned the popular Chinese video-sharing platform TikTok on Monday night. While that would have hurt the many Tiktokers and influencers in India, Indian rivals of TikTok are rejoicing. As soon as the news of the ban came in, Chingari, one of TikTok’s India rivals, started getting massive hits. Sumit Ghosh, the founder of Chingari, told Business Insider that the app was getting 100,000 downloads per hour. “This step will take India one step ahead to be an atmanirbhar economy — free from the clutches of China," Ghosh said. But Chingari is not the only one. TikTok has several rivals in India like Bolo Indya, Roposo, Khabri, Trell and even the very recent Mitron (currently under scrutiny by Google Play Store). And these apps welcomed the move from the government and the subsequent traffic on their apps. The Indian founders called this the atmanirbhar moment for India’s entrepreneurs."This is the digital atmanirbhar moment that most Indians have been rooting for. Roposo is very well positioned to lead this movement. Roposo will continue to build on the trust and love that 55 million Indian users have placed in us,” said Naveen Tewari, founder and CEO of InMobi Group. The Indian government’s MyGovIndia platform had moved from TikTok to Roposo earlier this month. Meanwhile, lifestyle community-commerce platform Trell got 1 million downloads just after the ban on Chinese apps. The lifestyle vlogging platform allows users to create 5-minute videos in their native languages. Others too tried to cash in on the loss of TikTok as a platform for the hundreds of influencers on the app. “Bolo Indya users spent more than 39 minutes per day on it before the ban on Chinese apps, and now we invite all the Tiktok stars from India to be part of the fast-growing Bolo Indya community. We are pleased to have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of millions of Tiktok stars and provide them with the platform to build on their social capital and convert it to financial independence,” said Varun Saxena, Founder, Bolo Indya. This move could be a boon for India’s entrepreneurs to build their own empires like Chinese giants. Indian entrepreneurs believe with this, ‘Made in India’ apps will get a boost as they won’t be fighting with Chinese companies, who have the cash to spend and build a userbase. “The move can be hugely beneficial for Indian companies considering the potential Indian startups have in terms of creating our own TikTok, We Chat, Baidu. Many others are all poised to make it big with the scale our country provides and absence of Chinese competitors with deep pockets,” Sandeep Singh, founder and president, Khabri. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/tiktok-has-been-removed-from-the-google-play-store-and-the-apple-app-store/articleshow/76702533.cms">TikTok disappears from Play Store and App Store soon after India banned 59 Chinese apps</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/hacks-to-avoid-tiktok-ban-and-pubg-may-be-banned-in-india-soon/articleshow/76705632.cms">There are ways around the TikTok ban⁠⁠— while PUBG may be banned via another list from the Indian government</a>

Tiktok has many rivals in India and the government ban is a blessing for them

<ul><li><keyword id="6762469" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="TikTok">TikTok</keyword> might have taken a hit with the growing resentment against Chinese apps, but it has also opened up the line of investors with the likes of Microsoft and Oracle in the US and Reliance in India. </li><li>But it’s not just TikTok alone. The ban on the app in India along with several other Chinese apps in late June this year gave its clone apps overnight popularity.</li><li>In August alone, Indian video-sharing apps have closed almost $20 million in funding so far.</li></ul>TikTok doesn’t just have millions of users dancing to its tunes, it also has marquee investors around the world picking up a tune to sing along with the Chinese giant. From Microsoft and now, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/272cfc69-b268-45ac-88d6-d55821f27e78">reportedly Oracle</a> looking to buy TikTok in the US, to India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani looking to buy the Indian business, the company has investors looking to cash in on its popularity. But it’s not just TikTok alone. The ban on the app in India along with several other Chinese apps in late June this year gave its clone apps overnight popularity. It even saw Facebook pushing out its new Instagram update and TikTok lookalike – <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/instagram-reels-is-being-quietly-tested-in-india-just-days-after-the-tiktok-ban/articleshow/76768337.cms">Instagram Reels,</a> just days after the ban. While TikTok’s real number of users aren’t reported by the company, the app was high up on the top downloads charts in India and had seen over<a href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/business/2020/aug/13/reliance-likely-to-acquire-tiktok-in-india-for-5-billion-2182978.html"> 611 million downloads</a>. And with these users looking to move to newer video destinations, Indian <keyword id="9777126" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="video-sharing-apps">video sharing apps</keyword> wanted to ride on the ban and the country’s AtmaNirbhar initiative. So evidently, venture capital money has also made its way to its India clone apps. In August alone, the Indian video-sharing apps have closed almost $20 million in funding so far, and as reports say, there are bigger ones on the cards. Indian social media startup Sharechat, which had also launched its own video sharing platform Moj, is <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/google-in-talks-with-sharechat-as-latter-scouts-for-150-200-million/articleshow/77582440.cms">reportedly</a> in talks with Microsoft and Google for an investment. Sharechat was also Twitter’s first startup investment in India. <keyword id="40682" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chingari">Chingari</keyword> Chingari, shot to fame overnight, so much so that its founders were tracking the hundreds of thousands of users coming in every hour right after the TikTok ban while working for 48 hours with no sleep. The app also won the best video sharing app in the Indian government’s AtmaNirbhar app challenge. Chingari raised $1.3 million in August from LogX Ventures, iSeed, Village Global along with angel investors like Brian Norgard, the former Chief Product Officer of Tinder, who has invested in SpaceX, AngelList, Notion among others. <keyword id="3961149" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="mitron">Mitron</keyword> Mitron, which gained popularity, even before the TikTok, thanks to its name being a word used famously by PM Narendra Modi, has raised two rounds of funding in recent times. Today the company has announced that it has raised $5 million, led by Nexus Venture Partners. 3one4 Capital and Arun Tadanki’s private syndicate on LetsVenture, along with a slew of angel investors like Deep Kalra (MakeMyTrip founder), Amarjit Batra (Spotify India head), among others. The startup said that it has over 33 million downloads on the Play Store and garners 9 billion video views per month. <keyword id="8861782" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Trell">Trell</keyword> Trell raised $11.4 million in a Series A round led by KTB Network. The round also saw participation from Samsung Ventures, Gokul Rajaram (Board Member, Pinterest, Square, DoorDash), Sequoia’s Surge, Fosun RZ Capital, among others. With 75 million downloads, the app claims to have grown over 27 times in the last 12 months and also has 25 million monthly active users. “Since the Chinese App ban, Trell has witnessed 500% growth with over 15 million creators on its platform receiving more than 5 billion monthly views,” the company said. Bolo Indya Another TikTok clone app, Bolo Indya, closed a seed funding round of $500,000 with over 40 lakh monthly active users. The startup’s funding was led by Eagle10 Ventures and India Accelerator. With a focus on vernacular language growth, the company’s founder Varun Saxena had said he aims to “see ourselves to be on at least one smartphone of every Indian household with a non-English user within the span of next 18 months”. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/oyo-byjus-investor-lightspeed-india-closes-its-third-fund-with-275-million/articleshow/77603896.cms">OYO, Byju's investor Lightspeed India closes its third fund with $275 million</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/tata-motors-sbi-card-bandhan-bank-ril-britannia-sbi-cards-share-price-are-top-movers-on-dalal-street-today/articleshow/77605529.cms">Top stock movers on Dalal Street today — Tata Motors, SBI Card, Bandhan Bank, RIL, Britannia</a>

It's not just TikTok, its clone apps in India too have a beeline of investors

<ul><li>India is on the threshold of setting up a new national bank that will raise money to fund long-term infrastructure projects, which typically have high risk and low payout.</li><li>The bank plans to overcome the issues of funding projects by allowing pension funds, insurance funds, sovereign funds and foreign investors to provide capital.</li><li>However, experts believe that there is more than just the absence of money plaguing the lack of money for infrastructure in India.</li></ul>The Indian government is on the cusp of setting up a new bank that will raise money from big pension funds, insurance funds, sovereign funds and foreign funds to invest in long-term infrastructure projects. Indeed, India’s infrastructure deficit is mammoth and it needs money. However, there is a lot else that impedes such projects in India. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="81530506" title="India sets up a new bank for big infrastructure projects as it aims to raise $41 billion in a few years" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> According to global research firm Phillip Capital, lack of funds is why 17% of projects within the manufacturing industry in India have stalled. And, even though there has not been an uptake in the number of projects, which are on hold right now — there haven’t been any new major projects announced either in the last nine months. So money is not the only issue at hand for the Narendra Modi administration. <div type="image" title="reasons for delay" msid="81549201" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Top reasons for delays in infrastructure projects in India&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The Union Budget 2021 provides capital infusion of ₹20,000 crore and an initial grant of ₹5,000 crore. According to Sitharaman, the government expends the <keyword id="51937" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="DFI">DFI</keyword> to raise up to ₹5 lakh crore in the next three years because it can access the market and capitalise on funds that are not otherwise available. "This will add up to the long-term financing sustainability of DFI in comparison to commercial banks which typically do not have the bandwidth to off long-term capital for infrastructure projects," Arun Kumar, a partner at legal firm IndusLaw, told Business Insider India. That may sound ambitious but ₹5 lakh crore is not even 5% of the kind of investment that India needs. The National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) has identified 7,000 projects that require over ₹111 lakh crore in investment in core sectors like power, roads, railways, and urban projects over the next five years, which means, the private sector has to chip in with the big bucks. "Without a subsidy it is financially unviable for the private sector to invest in infrastructure and therefore it is the state which should spearhead infrastructure," banking analyst Hemidra Hazari told Business Insider India. Ghosts of the past Everyone in India knows that its banks are saddled with bad loans. A big chunk of these unpaid loans were doled out during a similar thrust for building infrastructure. “The bank led infrastructure financing strategy from 2003 to 2008 has resulted in an NPA mess,” Varun Malhotra, director and founder of Edge Institute of Financial Services (EIFS) — a financial education institution — told Business Insider. <div type="image" title="Copy of india&amp;#39;s economic growth(1)" msid="81549216" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;NPAs with domestic banks in India over the last six years&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> According to Abhishek Saxena — the co-founder and partner of Phoenix Legal — the DFI will also need to have adequate risk mitigation strategies in place and recruit human capital with the right set of skills to be able to identify good projects for lending. “The DFI will need to ensure availability of funds with long tenure at low cost to avoid asset liability mismatches of the past which resulted in past lending turning into NPAs,” he said. Disinvestment on one hand and DFI on the other The resounding consensus in India’s capital markets these days ⁠— echoed by none other than the Prime Minister himself⁠ — is that the government has no business being in business. Therefore, from LIC to IDBI to Coal India, the government has put its stake in many state-owned companies up for sale. On the other hand, this mega infrastructure drive is being led by the government itself. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Ministry </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Target 2021-22 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Assets </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Railways </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹90,000 crore </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">50 stations and 150 private passenger trains </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Telecom </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹40,000 crore </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Telecom assets of BSNL, MTNL and Bharatnet </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Road Transport and Highways </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹30,000 crore </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Road length of over 7,000 kilometres </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Power </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹27,000 crore </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Transmission assets of Power Grid </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Youth Affairs and Sports </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹20,000 crore </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Sports stadia </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Civil Aviation </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹20,000 crore </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">13 airports under the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and AAI’s stake in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad airports </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Petroleum and Natural Gas </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹17,000 crore </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Pipelines of GAIL, IOCL and HPCL </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Shipping, Ports and Waterways </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹4,000 crore </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> Over 30 berths </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Finance </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">- </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Two public sector banks and LIC </td></tr></tbody></table>Source: <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/business/assets-monetisation-economy-privatisation-7231656/" id="docs-internal-guid-c7b8aabb-7fff-4870-fe74-d96c439ce7bf">IndianExpress</a> This is not the first time that India has done this experiment. The Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI), Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) and the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) were established to provide long-term financing between 1948 to 1964. “Financial markets, especially debt markets are quick to emerge, when the opportunities arise. The problem with infrastructure is usually, and more certainly in India, with the sector as such — regulatory and policy uncertainties, allocative inefficiencies arising out of governmentís influence in investment decisions — than in the need for special financial dispensation for infrastructure,” said Infrastructure Development Finance Company (<a href="http://www.idfc.com/pdf/report/IIR-2001.pdf">IDFC</a>) in a report it released in 2001. When the above argument found enough takers, the <keyword id="6354335" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="reserve-bank-of-india">Reserve Bank of India</keyword>’s (RBI) ‘support’ offered to these banks — built to develop India’s infrastructure — was withdrawn in the 90s. The banks had to face market-based rates, leading to their inevitable downfall. Since then, commercial banks have had to pick up the slack and their capacity to take on risk was limited. The argument has come a full circle since then. “The best answer to this infrastructure financing problem would be a vibrant debt market where long-term bonds can be issued. But in the absence of such a bond market, the idea of setting up a DFI for funding infrastructure projects of national importance is not a bad idea,” Malhotra explained. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/zerodha-founder-nikhil-kamath-flipkart-ceo-kalyan-krishnamurthy-and-others-buyout-chinese-investor-shunwei-capital-stake-in-koo-app/articleshow/81548852.cms">A flurry of Indian A-list entrepreneurs buyout Chinese investor Shunwei Capital’s stake in Koo – the microblogging site that’s taking on Twitter</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/elon-musk-turns-down-1-million-for-the-tweet-he-was-selling-as-an-nft/articleshow/81546434.cms">Elon Musk turns down $1 million for the tweet he was selling as an NFT</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/nazara-technologies-ipo-opens-today-should-you-subscribe/articleshow/81542657.cms">Nazara Technologies will be the first pure-play gaming company to debut on the Indian public markets – analysts are all in for it</a>

India hopes that more money will bridge the infrastructure gap⁠ but many believe that may not be enough

By Justin Rao and Komal Panchamatia Mumbai, May 12 () Big ticket releases such as Amitabh Bachchan's "Gulabo Sitabo" may bypass theatres and premiere directly on digital platforms, being seen as a potential saviour for the film industry in a year marred by the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainty over when cinemas will open.Faced with the question of going "direct to digital" or waiting for theatres to open after the situation improves, many filmmakers and production houses are exploring the option of heading to streaming platforms, industry insiders said.Shoojit Sircar's Amitabh-Ayushman Khurrana starrer "Gulabo Sitabo", Anu Menon's eponymous biopic on math genius Shakuntala Devi, with Vidya Balan in the title role, as well as "Chehre", another Amitabh film, are among the films likely to be released soon on a streaming platform."The deal of releasing 'Gulabo Sitabo', a quirky comedy set in Lucknow, and 'Shakuntala Devi' on Amazon Prime Video has been locked. The official announcement for both the films is most likely to be made this week," a source close to the streamer told .Ronnie Lahiri, producer on "Gulabo Sitabo", neither confirmed nor denied reports when reached out to him but asked journalists to wait for an official statement.An insider on the team of "Shakuntala Devi" also did not comment about the film's digital release."Chehre" producer Anand Pandit said a digital release was under consideration."Given how the lockdown is panning out, a digital release for 'Chehre' is being mulled," Pandit said, adding they would wait till the first week of June to take a final call.India has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.The one official announcement was the release of Nawazuddin Siddiqui's film "Ghoomketu", which streamed on ZEE5 last week. Most other plans are shrouded in secrecy with officials reluctant to come on record. But the list of 2020 films which will be released on streaming platforms is long, said insiders. Top on the list is "Laxmmi Bomb", featuring Akshay Kumar and backed by Fox Star Studios, which has reportedly been picked up by the recently launched service Disney+Hotstar. However, Hotstar representatives maintained a "no comment" stance as did producer Tusshar Kapoor.The movie, directed by Raghava Lawrence, was scheduled to be released on May 22 in theatres. That is unlikely to happen with no signs of cinema theatres opening even if the lockdown ends.The other 2020 releases -- Varun Dhawan-starrer "Coolie No 1", "Jhund" with Bachchan and Jahnvi Kapoor's "Gunjan Saxena" -- are also likely to head to different OTT platforms.Kiara Advani-starrer "Indoo Ki Jawani", co-produced by Nikkhil Advani and Bhushan Kumar, is also reportedly looking for a digital release.However, Advani said the film is currently being edited "despite physical constraints" and the team is optimistic it will be ready "very soon"."We are exploring all possible avenues. Nothing stands confirmed or committed. As soon as we are clear about the way ahead, we will make a statement," he said.Bhushan's T-Series' has two other films, "Ludo" and "Jhund".While questions sent to Bhushan on the slate of his films were left unanswered, a source from the production house confirmed that T-Series is planning to release its films digitally and talks are currently on.There are also some producers who want to wait it out.Producer Jackky Bhagnani, who was looking forward to the theatrical release of "Coolie No 1" on May 1, said he is not thinking about films right now. "Let us overcome this crisis and we will announce in happier times," Bhagnani said when asked about whether he was looking at releasing the film digitally.Reliance Entertainment said it will wait to release two of this year's most awaited films – Akshay starrer "Sooryavanshi" with "83", fronted by Ranveer Singh. The team will wait for the lockdown to be lifted and release these movies in theatres."We will first complete the film then we will wait. If six or nine months down the line the situation becomes much worse we will take a call at that time. There is no hurry. Same is the case with 'Sooryavanshi' and our other films," Reliance Entertainment Group CEO Shibashish Sarkar told last month.Irrfan Khan's last film "Angrezi Medium" headed to OTT platforms soon after its theatrical release as the lockdown led to cinema halls being closed. "There is a lot of big money involved. Also, if you release on OTT you cannot release it in theatres… If you release a film in theatre it will come on satellite as well as digital later," said trade analyst Taran Adarsh.Last week, the Multiplex Association of India (MAI) appealed to studio partners, producers, artistes and content creators to support the cinema exhibition sector by holding their films and releasing them in theatres once they reopen.The statement followed reports that several films were looking at a direct to digital release amid the lockdown.The combination of "pent-up demand" and the promise of new movies would boost film business and contribute massively in reviving the industry, the association said."The collective, social experience of watching films on the big screen needs to be preserved and it can be done so only with the collective support of all stakeholders," the statement from the body read."One can't say the film will lose or gain from a digital release, because when you release a good film in theatres, sky is the limit," Adarsh added KKP/JUR RDS MINMIN

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