PhonePe launched the Indus AppStore Developer Platform on Saturday, promising not to charge any platform fees or commission on in-app purchases, as the Walmart-backed fintech company races to win over Android developers in Google’s biggest market.
The Bengaluru-based startup, which has amassed over 450 million registered users on its eponymous payments app, said developers can start registering and uploading their apps on the Make in India app store starting today. The app store, in which PhonePe has also partnered with phone makers for distribution, features dozens of locally relevant features including support for third-party payment providers, 12 Indian languages, and a login system centered around phone numbers.
She added that PhonePe will not charge developers any listing fees for the first year but will move to a “nominal” cost after that. Additionally, the startup will not charge a commission on in-app purchases, compared to Google’s fee of between 15% and 30%. PhonePe, which leads the UPI-based payments market in India, said it has appointed an India-based team to provide support to developers, addressing concerns of local developers who were unhappy with Google’s delayed responses and operating hours in the US time zone.
TechCrunch reported on PhonePe’s plan to launch an app store in April. PhonePe, which raised $850 million in recent quarters, acquired IndusOS in 2021 and then fought a legal battle to complete the acquisition of the startup, has been operating in the App Store for years and internally sees it as a crucial strategic move, according to people familiar with the material.
The launch of the Indus Appstore Developer Platform comes at a time when many Indian companies and startups are frustrated with Google, whose Android mobile operating system powers more than 95% of all smartphones in the country.
But despite the size of the market, app developers in India are always forced to work with just one app store to distribute their apps, Akash Dongre, co-founder and head of product at Indus Appstore, said in a statement. (Even as Apple increasingly expands its presence in India, its market share remains low in the country.)
“Indus Appstore hopes to provide app developers with a trusted alternative to Google Playstore – one that is more local and provides better app discovery and consumer engagement,” he added.
PhonePe’s attempt is not the first by local businessmen to fight what they say are exorbitant fees imposed by the Google Play Store. Several Indian companies have knocked on New Delhi’s door to intervene in recent years, with some pinning their hopes on a boutique app store alliance led by Paytm.
The Walmart-backed startup, which was previously part of Flipkart, is optimistic that the push from the Indian watchdog to make Google accept third-party app stores and features relevant to local needs, such as real-time analytics and in-depth industry trend insights and competitor assessments, will be more successful than Previous attempts.
India is a key overseas market for Google, having distributed more than $10 billion in the past decade as the Android maker races to find the next big growth markets outside the United States. Google reaches more than 700 million internet users in the South Asian market but faces growing criticism and regulatory interference in the country.
The company was hit with two antitrust fines in India a year ago, and was forced to make several changes to its commercial agreements with phone makers and other partners. Google’s compliance came weeks after it warned that changes to its business terms would drive up the cost of devices in the world’s second-largest smartphone market and lead to the proliferation of unmonitored apps that would pose threats to individual and national security.
For PhonePe, the app store is the latest in a series of pushes by the fintech startup as it expands into several new categories. The $12 billion startup launched an e-commerce app this year and last month unveiled Share.Market, an app that allows users to open their own trading accounts and invest in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.