Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries has recently launched JioMeet video conferencing app with unlimited free calling at a time when virtual workplaces have become the norm, with US-based apps currently the most prominent in the space. The app is also being regarded as being an example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Vocal for Local’ call which is growing stronger. CEO of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant on Saturday used the new video-conferencing app and called it “better than Zoom.”

‘All data in India’

Taking to Twitter, Kant said that he tried JioMeet video conferencing app and said it has emerged as a “major technological disruptor from India”. The CEO of the Indian government’s policy think tank said the app “will go places in these challenging times.”

The JioMeet video conferencing app is available across Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and web since Thursday evening after beta testing. According to the company website, JioMeet supports HD audio and video call quality with up to 100 participants and offers features like screen sharing, meeting schedule feature and more. 

The app, which has already seen more than 5 lakh downloads on the Google Play Store and iOS, comes amid the government imposing a ban on 59 popular Chinese apps including TikTok on grounds that they threatened national security and data privacy. 

The app was launched a day before Reliance announced fundraising from stake sale in Jio Platforms which has now totalled Rs 1.17 lakh crore from 11 investors, ranging from Facebook to Intel Capital.

‘Aatmanirbhar App Ecosystem’

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge’ to facilitate the techies and start-up community to create world-class Made in India Apps. The challenge is an endeavour of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Atal Innovation Mission.

Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister said that there is immense enthusiasm among the tech and start-up community to create world-class Made in India Apps.

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PM Modi also said that the challenge will help create an “Aatmanirbhar App Ecosystem”. “Who knows, I may also use some of these apps made by you,” he said in a write-up on LinkedIn. The Prime Minister had given a call for an “Atmanirbhar Bharat (a self-reliant India) and had urged people to be “vocal for local” products.

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(With agency inputs)