India Open to Launching Own App Store on Enough Demand from Domestic Firms

• India open to launching its own mobile app store as an alternative to Apple and Google platforms.
• India already runs a mobile app store that lists over 1200 mainly government-backed applications.

India has no objection to launching its own mobile app store or expanding an existing one if it receives enough demand from domestic firms for an alternative to Apple and Google platforms, a senior government official said, according to a report by reuters.

Indian start-ups have criticized Google for policies they say affect their growth. The country has some 500 million smartphone users, most of whom use Google's Android platform.

This comes at a time when Paytm, one of India's leading payments firms, protested against the U.S. tech giant's decision to remove its app for a few hours last month citing violations of gambling policies.

Later Paytm's founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has said in interviews that Google was acting as "judge, jury and executioner".

India already runs a mobile app store that lists over 1200 mainly government-backed applications, but also Paytm, and the government could also consider expanding that instead of starting from scratch, said the official declining to be named as he is not authorized to speak with media.

Google has previously said that fewer than 3% of developers with apps on its Play store sold digital goods over the last 12 months, and nearly 97% comply with its payment system policy.

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However, several Indian start-up founders are calling for a local app store that doesn't charge a high service fee.

"It's absolutely necessary to have a local app store. If we have to give 30% fees to Google and also pay for customer acquisition, how will our budding businesses survive?" said Vishal Gondal, co-founder of Bengaluru-based gaming firm nCore Games.

However, Google said it will pay $3 billion to news publishers around the globe over the next three years.

Meanwhile, Google also said, effective January 20, 2021, developers charging for apps and downloads from Google Play or have in-app purchases (IAPs) must use Google Play’s billing system as the method of payment, and pay 30 percent commission to Google.

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