Walmart Inc.’s PhonePe introduces Indus Appstore, a new Android-based mobile app store in India, to rival Google’s Play Store. With free listing fees for developers until 2025, the store offers over 200,000 apps and games in 12 Indian languages.
PhonePe, a fintech company owned by Walmart Inc., has introduced a mobile application shop for Indian customers. The product is up against Google’s Play Store on the Android-based Indus Appstore.
PhonePe, which bills itself as a “game-changer in India’s digital journey,” just launched its newest offering in an attempt to take advantage of the country’s booming mobile usage, which is the second largest smartphone market globally.
Indus Appstore will offer over 200,000 mobile apps and games in 12 Indian languages, per PhonePe’s official press release.
Developers won’t be charged for listing their apps on PhonePe for a year, or until April 1, 2025, according to PhonePe.
The first version stated that developers are free to utilize any third-party payment gateway of their choosing.
According to the official release, Indian users can download more than 2 lakh mobile apps and games from the Indus Appstore in 45 different categories. These apps would be easily accessible to users in 12 Indian languages, meeting the linguistic preferences of 95% of Indians. To increase customer engagement with new app discovery, the app store has introduced a brand-new feature that is based on short videos.
Also Read: Indian AI market expected to reach $17 billion by 2027, according to a Nasscom-BCG report.
According to Sameer Nigam, CEO and founder of PhonePe, “Indus Appstore challenges the status quo, ushering in an era of more healthy competition in the mobile app marketplace, which should help create a more vibrant and democratic digital ecosystem in India.” Our goal is to create a truly inclusive digital ecosystem where all Indian users feel welcome, and the Indus Appstore epitomizes this goal.”