ByteDance's second corporate entity in India soon

NEW DELHI: ByteDance is setting up a second corporate entity in India, as the Chinese multinational internet technology company looks to deepen its roots in Asia’s third-largest economy, among its most active markets globally.The new entity, according to two sources with knowledge of the developments, is likely to provide Information Technology and IT-enabled services support to all of ByteDance’s platforms worldwide, including in India. It will also include working on content generated across its various platforms, issues that the startup has been facing across geographies. An email sent to ByteDance spokespersons in India, on Saturday evening, did not elicit any response till the time of going to press.The company, which commands a secondary private market valuation of about $110 billion, owns and operates popular short-form mobile video app TikTok and social media platform Helo apps. It also has content discovery platform Toutiao and Douyin, the Chinese twin of TikTok, as well as Xigua Video, among others in its portfolio.Sources said ByteDance was expected to formally file an application with the government and regulators, including the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade in the next few weeks.Last month ET reported that in India, fewer people downloaded Tik-Tok in April and May compared to the previous two months, amid reduced marketing and ad-budgets due to the Covid-19 pandemic, along with a persistent anti-China sentiment that saw users calling for a ban. 76125328

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3gQaqiu