PhonePe opens the Indus Appstore in India and waives the first-year app listing fee

Developers will be able to incorporate any payment channel for in-app purchases into the Indus Appstore

On Wednesday, February 21, PhonePe opened the Indus Appstore, an Android-based mobile app marketplace, in India. In a mixed ceremony, Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Minister of Communications, Electronics, and Information Technology, opened the app store. The finance company, owned by Walmart, stated that the primary issue it aims to address with its new app storefront is the dearth of localized language content in marketplaces. There will be twelve regional Indian languages and English available on the Indus Appstore. Additionally, it has features like mobile logins, AI-driven app recommendations, and video-led app discovery.
Regional languages including Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, and Hindi are supported by Indus. The top of it has a toggle button that allows users to switch between languages. The option modifies app names, app descriptions, app trailers, and app videos in addition to the language of the interface’s content. According to PhonePe, the translations were completed by the business.

In addition, users can see search results in any of the 12 regional languages supported by the platform. Sameer Nigam, the CEO and founder of PhonePe, claimed that even transliterations in regional languages will have benefits. Users of Android smartphones can install and get this app here.

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According to the corporation, the Indus Appstore launched with 200,000 apps. Among the well-known apps are Flipkart, Snapchat, Disney+ Hotstar, Myntra, Zomato, and Swiggy. Numerous thousand games are included in the total, with a strong emphasis on them. There are three main gaming categories on the platform: heavy gaming, real money gaming (RMG), and casual gaming.

The initial year of free app listings on the developer marketplace will be followed by an annual fee. Additionally, PhonePe said that if other payment methods are utilized, the marketplace will not impose any platform fees or commissions on developers for in-app purchases. By comparison, Apple and Google do not permit the integration of other payment methods and charge a commission of 15–25 percent for the same.

In addition, the platform enables users to check in without using emails by using their mobile number and an OTP. The developer platform combines location data and algorithms based on artificial intelligence (AI) to promote apps. A few clever features are also included, like smart updates that enable quicker updates to the most recent version. Users will be able to choose which infrequently used apps to uninstall or put into hibernation (where updates will stop) using the personalized storage management function.

Nigam said that app developers will have the choice of whether or not to include advertisements in their apps. The generated ad revenue will allow anyone who choose to participate to receive a commission.