More than 1,000 volunteers of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living have developed a 'made in India' social media app called Elyments, which was launched by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday. The app competes with the likes of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.

On a video streaming page, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar writes that, on Elyments, people will be able to connect globally and shop locally. "From Day Zero, Elyments has been built with user’s privacy as a primary concern. Data of users is stored in India and user’s data will never be shared with a third party without user’s consent."

Elyments allows users to stay in touch with friends through a vibrant feed, seamless free audio/video calls, and a private chat connection. Users can also shop from a multitude of Indian stores, get latest news on their fingertips, follow verified Indian personalities, and play games without having to leave the app.

The app which is available on both the platforms — Apple's App Store as well as Google Play Store — will be available in eight Indian languages. 

"I am happy to note that more than one thousand IT professionals, who are also the volunteers of the Art of Living, have together created an indigenous app named Elyments. It’s appreciable that the app will be available in eight Indian languages,” the Vice President said while launching the app virtually.

The announcement comes on the backdrop on Narendra Modi, Prime Minister, on Saturday urged India’s IT workforce to take part in an innovation challenge to “code for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Earlier last week, Government of India banned 59 Chinese mobile phone apps on grounds of risk to the country’s sovereignty, security, defence, and public order.

To commemorate five years of Digital India, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad went live with India’s tech entrepreneurs in a virtual event hosted by YourStory Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma. In the exclusive #DigitalIndiaTownhall for Indian entrepreneurs, the Minister interacted with some of India's leading startup founders, where he called on the startup ecosystem to focus on building solutions for digital education, healthtech, as well as homegrown apps. He said, India is a country where apps are downloaded a lot, but not uploaded, Ravi Shankar Prasad said. The minister emphasised that Indian startups have a golden opportunity now to fill the vacuum for homegrown apps, following the government's decision to ban 59 Chinese mobile apps.