TikTok parent ByteDance rings in profits in first full year of India operations

ByteDance India Technology, the Indian subsidiary of the Chinese internet giant that owns the popular short video app TikTok, reported profits after tax at Rs 3.38 crore for the financial year 2018-2019 (FY19), according to its latest regulatory filings. FY19 marks the company’s first full year of operations here.

The company, which was incorporated in 2017, reported Rs 43.6 crore in revenues from operations during the period, according to its latest regulatory filings.

Since the company was incorporated in October 2017, there is no comparable data for revenues from operations for the previous financial year ended March 2018.

As on 2018, Bytedance India Technology was a wholly owned subsidiary of Bytemod, a Singapore-registered entity to which it provided software development, integration and implementation and ancillary support services for launching applications. 

Apart from TikTok, Beijing headquartered ByteDance is also the parent of social media app Helo and Vigo Video in India. 

The company’s short video app TikTok, which has 200 million users in India, has had a rough ride over the last year with the app being banned for download temporarily on charges of distribution of inappropriate and explicit content. TikTok also announced the appointment of Nikhil Gandhi as India head earlier this month to lead product development. It has recently started monetising its platform through advertising partnerships with brands.

SoftBank backed ByteDance is estimated to be valued at $78 billion and was reportedly evaluating a public market listing in HongKong, which the company subsequently denied.