Last week the Government of India did announce to ban 59 mobile applications as the government said these mobile apps were engaged in activities that were prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity, and defense of the nation.
The list includes TikTok, UCBrowser, WeChat, CamScanner, etc and these apps are quite popular and have been widely used in India and in other countries as well.
Ever since the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown that followed has changed the way many professionals work.
Technology has played a pivotal role — be it work from home or online classes or digital payments.
Same time, certain IT experts feel this may be the best and ideal opportunity for the Startups, particularly from India, to develop and deliver the alternative apps to shine.
What Entrepreneurs are Saying After the Ban:
Shortly after the announcement, Debjani Ghosh, NASSCOM’s president took to Twitter to laud the decision and encourage India’s start-ups to fill the void in the app ecosystem. Her tweet was accompanied by numerous entrepreneurs including PayTM founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who was also welcomed by the move.
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Debjani Ghosh, president of NASSCOM, feels that it is the right time for the government and industry to focus on building for the Indian movement. She tweeted –
No better time than now for Indian start ups to raise their innovation game! Also the perfect time for gov’t n industry to amp up the “build for India n scale globally” movement with focus on Innovation, Policy, Funding, Trust n Security. https://t.co/fp2GNxZU2y
— debjani ghosh (@debjani_ghosh_) June 30, 2020
How This is an Opportunity:
From the last 10 years, India’s tech start-ups have been struggling to compete with the digital offerings with foreign companies which is typically backed by heavy volumes of funding, and capable of undertaking relentless and wide-scale marketing campaigns.
According to experts, India’s tech start-up ecosystem has struggled to secure the same levels of investments that the foreign-backed firms receive. And coupled with the lack of institutional support for the Indian government as well.
The popular mobile apps like TikTok, UCBrowser, Vigo, and other apps, many of which come pre-installed on smartphone manufactures and sold by foreign-based companies in India such as Huawei, Xiaomi, ZTE, etc.
What We Can Achieve:
The whole thing is actually about data privacy. There no connection to the Indo-China Border conflict issue for this banning.
So here only to focus the Indian Data-Privacy policy along with other privacy policies to launch your mobile app into the market.
Other checkpoints like features, engagement, usability must to consider for developing a new mobile app.
Obviously, if you are developing a mobile app for public entertainment or people would use the app for their entertainment your data privacy policy need to be transparent as much it can be.
Security of User Information
With that kind of information at stake, mobile app developers need to do everything they can to protect their users and clients.
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Some the step we can follow like:
- Encrypt All Data
- Be Extra Cautious With Libraries
- Use Authorized APIs Only
- Use High-Level Authentication
- Deploy Tamper-Detection Technologies
- Use the Principle of Least Privilege
- Deploy Proper Session Handling
- Use the Best Cryptography Tools and Techniques
The above guidelines will help to keep the mobile app secure as an oyster and keep your clients and users happy.
Conclusion
From video sharing app like TikTok to chat-based services WeChat, to eCommerce, to web browsing and gaming, the latest ban has provided a much-awated gift to the Indian digital niche, at a moment when the spirits may have been at their lowest due to Covid-19 pandemic situation.
Same time, the Indian Government also has to back the Indian startup as a wing to gain popularity. The time is ripe then, for India’s tech entrepreneurs to finally take center-stage.
