ByteDance is said to be in talks to sell its India operations of TikTok in a bid to rival unicorn Glance. According to a new report, the company is in discussions with Japan’s SoftBank Group conglomerate. As per the sources, the talks are private as well as early and complex. For the unaware, SoftBank is a backer of Glance’s parent InMobi Pte as well as TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance.

As per a new report from Bloomberg, ByteDance is in talks with SoftBank conglomerate to sell its TikTok India assets. The talks involve four sides including SoftBank, ByteDance, Glance, and the Indian authorities, which will decide the fate of the deal. The report goes on to say that SoftBank has been attempting to salvage TikTok’s India assets. Further, it has been hunting for local partners.

If the talks progress, it will require the Indian government to authorise the sale. It is likely to insist that user data and technology of TikTok stay within the Indian borders. That’s because, India-China relationship hasn’t been very well lately. The relations between New Delhi and Beijing remain strained. The sources said that India will make no allowances for China-based technology companies. Furthermore, any sale of TikTok could need approval from Chinese authorities.

TikTok’s potential partner, Bangalore-headquartered Glance Digital Experience is a mobile content platform. Glance has a TikTok competitor named Roposo, which has seen a massive growth after the TikTok ban in India.

In June last year, The Indian government’s Ministry of Information Technology banned a total of 59 Chinese apps in the country, which also included the famous short-video sharing app TikTok. It also banned the likes of CamScanner, Shareit, Mobile Legends, UC Browser, and Weibo. Later, PUBG Mobile suffered the same fate. The press release claimed that these apps pose a threat to national security and public order, and are ‘prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India’.