ByteDance reportedly entered early-stage talks regarding a sale of its TikTok operation in India after the short-form video service was included in a broad ban on Chinese-owned apps implemented during 2020.

Bloomberg stated the Chinese company was discussing a potential deal with India-based mobile content provider Glance, developer of rival video service Roposo.

The news outlet reported talks were initiated by SoftBank Group, which owns shares in both ByteDance and Glance’s parent InMobi. It noted Indian authorities would likely insist on user data being retained in the country before blessing any deal.

App analytics company Appfigures estimated Roposo was downloaded almost 34 million times in India during 2020, with more than 500,000 recorded after TikTok was permanently banned in January.

Bloomberg reported Roposo’s total user base in India now exceeded 130 million, while TikTok had 200 million users when it was initially shut down.