TikTok ban puts brake on parent ByteDance's India office space expansion plan

TikTok parent ByteDance's move to lay off employees, following its permanent ban in India, has effectively shuttered the Chinese company's office expansion plans here. The company is unlikely to go ahead with its plan to occupy big space in Mumbai's Goregaon suburb as committed in July, right in the middle of the pandemic and uncertainty over its future in the country, said people with direct knowledge of the development. The Beijing-headquartered company had entered into a flexible office space deal for 1,250 seats at WeWork India's Nesco property in Mumbai's Goregaon suburb last year. It has not taken charge of the space and not even intimated WeWork India about any plan to do so. The deal for the Mumbai office was struck last year with a plan to use the same for expansion and consolidating some of its operations here. Apart from this proposed office set-up in a co-working hub in Mumbai, ByteDance also has two operational offices in Bengaluru and Gurgaon through a similar arrangement with WeWork India and these would also be up for review. ET has already reported that the Chinese Internet company has started the process of laying off employees in India following this permanent ban on its most popular apps TikTok and Helo last week.