Exclusive: China to allow Didi apps back online, in latest sign of regulatory thaw

Jan 13 (Reuters) - Chinese authorities are set to allow Didi Global's ride-hailing and other apps back on domestic app stores as soon as next week, five sources told Reuters, in

yet another signal that their two-year regulatory crackdown on the technology sector is ending.Didi has been awaiting authorities' approval to resume new user registrations and

downloads of its 25 banned apps in China as a key step to resume normal business since its regulatory troubles started in mid-2021.The lifting of the new user ban and app

resumption for its flagship ride-hailing services and other business could take place before the Lunar New Year which begins on Jan. 22, said four of the sources.The one-week-long

holiday period in China would help Didi start to attract new clients for the business and work towards bringing it back to normal, added two of the sources.A lifting of the ban on

Didi apps would come as Chinese policymakers seek to restore private sector confidence and count on the technology industry to help spur economic activity that has been ravaged by

the COVID-19 pandemic.China's central bank will step up support for private firms as part of steps to shore up the economy, while easing a crackdown on tech companies, Guo Shuqing,

Communist party chief of the People's Bank of China, told state-owned CCTV on Sunday.A restoration of apps would also signal Didi's completion of its one year and a half-long

regulatory-driven revamp, and will come after the powerful cyber watchdog Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) imposed in July a $1.2 billion fine on the company.Didi already

last year paid the fine, the largest regulatory penalty imposed on a Chinese tech firm since Alibaba Group (9988.HK) and Meituan (3690.HK) were fined $2.75 billion and $527

million, respectively, in 2021 by the antitrust regulator State Administration for Market Regulation, said two of the sources.Didi did not immediately respond to a Reuters request

for comment.CAC and the State Council Information Office, which handles media queries for the government, did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.The penalty on

Didi was part of Beijing's sweeping and unprecedented crackdown on the country's technology titans over the past two years that has sliced hundreds of billions of dollars off their

values and shrunk revenues and profits.Chinese regulators, led by the CAC, have in recent weeks restarted to push forward with Didi's app resumption approval process, said two of

the sources and another source with knowledge of the matter.The regulators, which last week submitted a report on the matter to the top party leaders, look to formally get the