Indus Appstore for Android devices by PhonePe has reached more than 1 million installations, as per a release by PhonePe. Interestingly, 45 per cent of the users hail from Tier 2 cities.
“Indus Appstore’s rapid adoption signifies the market’s readiness for alternatives that prioritize the needs of Indian developers and cater to the linguistic and cultural preferences of the Indian audience,” says a company statement.
Akash Dongre, co-founder and CPO, Indus Appstore, said, “This remarkable achievement is a reflection of our team’s unwavering commitment and hard work. We will continue innovating and improving our app store experience to ensure that we remain at the forefront of delivering a superior product experience for both developers and consumers.”
In February 2024, PhonePe launched the Indus Appstore. It was launched with the intent of creating “a more competitive and localised mobile app store economy for India.” Consumers can download over 2 lakh mobile apps and games across 45 categories from the app, as per the company.
Further, “the app store also offers a brand new short-video-based discovery feature to make new app discovery more engaging for consumers,” reads a company statement. Additionally, instead of taking a share from in-app purchases like Google, Indus allows users to choose any third-party payment gateway for in-app billing without any commission.
Indus Appstore has also forged partnerships with Nokia and Lava. It is also in discussion with other smartphone manufacturers. The company has a pre-installation target of 250–300 million devices by the end of this year.
