PhonePe launches Indus Appstore

The app store will offer localised services for Indian users, including support for 12 languages, a dedicated payment gateway, and a dedicated customer support team based in India. As per the press release, PhonePe is not going to charge developers any listing fee for the first year but move to a nominal cost thereafter. In addition, the company will not impose a commission on in-app purchases. This is an important shift compared to Google’s 15-30% take rate.

Moreover, PhonePe said that it has put in place an India-based team to offer support and address the concerns of local developers who may have been dissatisfied with Google’s delayed responses and US time zone operating hours.

Launch Pad is Indus AppStore's dedicated platform for startups and new app launches. This is aimed at improving their search engine optimisation and visibility, allowing these businesses to reach more users. App publishers will also be able to increase brand recognition with the help of engaging videos.

The Indus Appstore is designed to provide developers with an alternate distribution channel to access the Indian Android market and to aid them in the acquisition of high-quality users through multilingual app discovery. To do this, PhonePe has partnered with various phone manufacturers to disseminate the app store on their devices.

The company believes that the localisation features and developer support of the Indus AppStore will attract developers, particularly startups and new app launches. It seeks to become a credible alternative to the Google Play Store for app developers in India.

Based in India, PhonePe provides UPI services to Indian people, aiming to increase the culture of digital payments.

In August 2023, the company announced its venture into stock brokerage with the launch of Share.Market, under its PhonePe Wealth Broking subsidiary. Share.Market would provide a wide spectrum of investment products, including stocks (intraday and delivery), mutual funds, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), and WealthBaskets. According to PhonePe, Share.Market elevates discount broking by providing market intelligence and quantitative research based WealthBaskets, a scalable technology platform. It would be available as a mobile app and a dedicated web platform, enabling retail investors to buy stocks, make intra-day trades, and buy curated WealthBaskets and mutual funds.

In July 2023, PhonePe announced the launch of an income tax payment feature developed in partnership with digital B2B payments service provider PayMate. The news of the launch comes in light of Income Tax Day 2023 and aims to enable users to pay income taxes leveraging PhonePe. By leveraging this feature, taxpayers are able to pay self-assessment and advance tax directly from within the PhonePe app, with no requirement for a login to the tax portal. The feature was set to not only provide an alternative for tax filing but also help reduce the load on the website. 

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