PhonePe unveils Indus Appstore: Game-changer in India's digital journey

PhonePe has on Wednesday announced the consumer launch of its Indus Appstore, which is its attempt at creating a more competitive and localized mobile app store economy for India — the largest mobile apps download market globally. The Indus Appstore will allow Indian consumers to download over 2 lakh mobile apps and games, across 45 categories, the official release said. 

On the Appstore, users will be able to discover these apps in 12 Indian languages, thereby catering to 95 per cent of Indians’ language preferences. The app store will also offer a brand new short-video based discovery feature, to make new app discovery more engaging for consumers. 

The platform will also allow app and game developers to choose any third-party payment gateway for in-app billing, and they will not be charged any commission if they use an external payment gateway. At a later date, Indus will also provide its own in-app billing and catalog solutions, but these will remain strictly optional for app developers. Further, to accelerate developer registrations, Indus is offering zero listing fees to developers for one year. 

The timing of Indus Appstore's launch gains more relevance given the recent clamor from the Indian startup ecosystem for more free market competition in the mobile app store space. 

Speaking at the launch, Sameer Nigam, CEO and Founder PhonePe, said, “Indus Appstore challenges the status quo, ushering in an era of more healthy competition in the mobile app marketplace, which in turn should help create a more democratic and vibrant Indian digital ecosystem. Indus Appstore embodies our commitment to building a truly inclusive digital ecosystem where every Indian user feels at home.”