PhonePe to Open its App Store to Developers The App listings on the Indus Appstore Developer Platform of PhonePe will be free for the first year, post which a nominal annual fee will apply.

The Walmart-backed PhonePe on Saturday announced the opening of its soon-to-be-launched app store—Indus—to developers. The App store will offer a localized experience in 12 languages, completely customized for Indian audiences and will challenge the existing duopoly of Google and Apple in the App store market.

According to the company's press release, the App listings on the Indus Appstore Developer Platform will be free for the first year, post which a nominal annual fee will apply. The Indus Appstore will not charge developers any platform fee or commission for In-App Payments. Developers will be free to integrate any payment gateway of their choice inside their own apps.

Speaking of the launch, Akash Dongre, CPO & Co-Founder, Indus Appstore said, "India is poised to have over 1 billion smartphone users by 2026 offering us a massive opportunity to build a new-age, localized Android app store. Despite being such a large consumer market, app developers have always been forced to work with only one app store – Google Playstore – for distributing their apps. Indus Appstore hopes to provide app developers a credible alternative to the Google Playstore – one that is more localized and offers better app discovery and consumer engagement. We are excited to open up the Indus Appstore Developer Platform today, and invite all developers to list their app on the Made-in-India app store."

The Indus Appstore will provide developers an alternative distribution channel to tap into the Indian Android market. It will also assist them with high-quality user acquisition through multilingual app discovery.

For startups and new app launches, Indus Appstore will have a dedicated destination called "Launch Pad" to provide these new apps with better visibility as well as search optimization. It will also offer several developer tools and features that address the challenges faced by most Android developers, including a dedicated round-the-clock customer support team based in India, the option to list their app in 12 Indian languages besides English and the ability to boost brand awareness via engaging videos.

As per the company's press release, Indus Appstore is a native Android-based mobile app store, designed to fulfill the localized and cultural needs of Indian consumers. With an extensive array of categories it seeks to provide users a localized, contextual and a personalized experience. Indus Appstore is available in English and 12 Indian languages, which allows users to explore the Appstore in their preferred language.

For developers, Indus Appstore provides a fair and level playing field to list, distribute & promote their products in the Indian app ecosystem. It provides a self-publishing platform, localization services, multiple tools to monitor and grow their apps along with a dedicated 24×7 customer support.