PhonePe launched its made-in-India Indus Appstore developer platform, to fill the gap that currently exists in creating a localised appstore experience that offers better app discovery and consumer engagement. Unveiled at TechSparks 2023 Bengaluru edition in the presence of Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and PhonePe Founder and CEO Sameer Nigam, Indus Appstore offers Android developers the opportunity to join the platform at zero platform fee for the first year. Additionally, the appstore has completely waived off commission for in-app purchases. 

“I’m incredibly excited about changing the fundamentals - such as using e-mail IDs for login. In India, people leapfrogged e-mail when they entered the internet. There are fewer e-mail IDs than smartphones in the country, which means people don’t even get personalised recommendations. We are going to change that. We are going to become a mobile-first market,” said Sameer Nigam, Founder and CEO, PhonePe, in conversation with Shradha Sharma during TechSparks 2023.

For developers on the Indus Appstore, app listing will be free for the first year, after which a nominal fee will be applicable. Android developers will be free to integrate any payment gateway of choice inside their own apps.

Encouraging Android developers to list their apps on a made-in-India appstore designed for the Indian experience coincides with the country’s renewed commitment to self-reliance (Aatmanirbhar Bharat).

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Electronics and Information Technology, one of the leading advocates of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat policy, believes in freedom and choice of internet.

“We don’t want any (one) phone company or provider to have a lock hold on Indian consumers. We don’t like locked islands on the internet. Every developer [and] consumer should have a choice,” said the minister in conversation with Shradha Sharma during TechSparks 2023.

The development comes at a time when Android developers rely on the Google Play Store as the predominant app development and listing platform in India. The Android operating system currently holds ~95% market share in India among mobile phone users. A Deloitte study estimates India’s smartphone users will swell from 750 million in 2021 to 1 billion by 2026.

Taking this into account, the Indus Appstore is expected to offer an alternative to developers to list relevant apps for Indian customers at affordable prices. In comparison to the zero commission for in-app purchases on Indus Appstore, app store platforms such as Google and Apple charge between 15- 25% for in-app purchases in addition to other charges.

Vocal for local 

PhonePe acquired mobile platform Indus OS in 2022. Following the acquisition, the fintech worked with Indus OS to build a homegrown horizontal local app store. 

The Indus Appstore will offer a localised experience to Indian users in 12 Indian languages. For new app launches, Indus Appstore will have a dedicated destination called the “Indus Leap Program” to provide these new apps with better visibility as well as search optimisation.

Several popular brands have already listed their apps on Indus Appstore and the app has also closed a deal with popular smartphone manufacturers, which will bolster efforts to bring Indians into the Indus Appstore fold.

Indus Appstore will help break the monopoly of Google in the Android app market and bring in viable app-listing opportunities to existing and new developers.
 
“There’s going to be a billion smartphones in India very soon and we felt the need for a challenger, one that understands cultural tastes, language, and localisation,” Nigam added.

Unlike Google’s location-based targeting, developers on Indus Appstore will target user cohorts based on their language preferences. Nigam explained that Indus Appstore has a transliteration engine that provides information about an app in multiple languages as well as the ability to boost brand awareness with engaging videos.

The first phase of expansion for the Indus Appstore involves building a sizable consortium of Android developers on the platform. It will have an India-based support team to solve developer queries swiftly. Once the app is listed on the platform, Indus Appstore will be made available to the end users.

Nigam explained that the Indus Appstore has tasted early success, with developers keen to be onboarded on the platform. The ultimate goal, according to him, is to onboard 90% of the top 5,000 developers through a level playing field for all developers.