PhonePe launches Indus Appstore for android users

Walmart-invested PhonePe has launched the 'Indus Appstore' for Android smartphone users. According to the app's About Us, Indus Appstore has around 4 lakh apps that can be searched and downloaded in 12 Indian languages.

PhonePe CEO and Founder Sameer Nigam said that Indus Appstore has begun to provide healthy competition in the mobile app market. "This will help in creating a more democratic and vibrant Indian digital system", he said.

According to media reports, the aim behind this is that the company wants to challenge Google's monopoly in Android app distribution.

The company had invited Android app developers to list their apps in September 2023.

While inviting app developers, PhonePe had said that app listing on the Indus Developer Platform will be free for the first year. After this, a nominal fee will be charged every year. The company however has not said how much annual fee it will charge from the developer after one year.

According to app intelligence firm data.ai, Indians spent about 1.19 trillion hours on mobile apps in 2023, up from 954 billion hours in 2021. The country is also the largest market in the world in terms of app downloads.

Akash Dongre, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of Indus Appstore, said in September, "The number of smartphone users in India is expected to reach more than 1 billion by 2026. This gives us a big opportunity to create a new-age localized Android app store."