India to Develop its Own WhatsApp-like Chat App

India is planning to build its own WhatsApp-like chat app following France’s footsteps. The goal is to develop an app for government employees to use it for official communication.

As reported by the Indian media, the Indian government is pondering over the need to have local email and chat app.

The aim of the government is to reduce its reliance on the foreign entities following the continued tensions between the US and Huawei.

An anonymous top government official said, “We need to make our communication insular.”

Also read: WhatsApp not to be available in Microsoft Store after July 1, 2019

 India is also having trade tensions with US President Donald Trump as it removed India from a special trade program as the South Asian country did not guarantee him that it will “provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets.”

India termed the situation as ‘’unfortunate’ and then weeks later raised the tariffs on a few U.S. exports.

Earlier France has launched an encrypted chat app called Tchap. It will be used in government offices by just the French government officials.

Security is an issue, as in Tchap as well a security flaw was seen within 24 hours of its release. Thus it is important that India also safeguards its security if it plans to launch a chat app.