PhonePe Introduces ‘Made In India’ Appstore as an Alternative to Google Play Store

PhonePe, the popular digital payment app backed by Walmart, has launched its own App Store called ‘Indus Appstore’. The move is said to challenge Google’s monopoly with the Play Store in the distribution of Android mobile apps.

The biggest incentive for Android developers to publish on the Indus Appstore would be zero commission on in-app sales and in-app purchases. Google and Apple, on the other hand, charge developers a 15-30% commission for all in-app transactions and app sales. PhonePe also doesn’t charge app developers an IPO fee for the initial first year, switching to a “nominal” fee after that. PhonePe also said that “developers are free to integrate any payment gateway they choose into their own apps.”

Developers can already start uploading their applications to the platform. In addition, Indus Appstore, which focuses on operating in India, supports 12 Indian languages and includes a phone number-based login system for ease of use.

Commenting on the launch, Akash Dongre, CPO and Founder of Indus Appstore said, “India will have over one billion smartphone users by 2026, which presents us with a huge opportunity to build a new-age, localized Android app store. Despite being such a large consumer market, app developers are always had to work with only one app store – Google Playstore – for the distribution of their apps.

He added, “Indus Appstore hopes to provide app developers with a credible alternative to Google Playstore – one that is more localized and offers better app discovery and consumer engagement. We are excited to launch the Indus Appstore Developer Platform today and invite all developers to list their apps on the Made-in-India app store .

Additional benefits of Indus App Store include AI-powered real-time app vital tracking during new version release and real-time analytics, deep insight into industry trends and competitor analysis to help developers adopt best practices.