PhonePe’s Indus Appstore has officially crossed the 100 million device milestone in India, marking a major achievement for the home-grown Android marketplace. The surge comes with remarkable traction among Gen Z, Tier 3 cities, and users preferring regional languages. Business Standard
Key Drivers Behind the Growth
- Regional Languages Adoption: About 40% of users are using the appstore dashboard or discovering apps in one of the 12 Indian regional languages. The most popular among these are Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, and Gujarati.
- Geographic Penetration: Tier 3 cities and rural/small town India are contributing heavily—~70.6% of Indus users are from Tier 3 locations. States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra lead, with Karnataka & Telangana also important hubs.
- Young User Base: Gen Z (ages ~18-27) makes up ~33.7% of the users. If you include Gen Y (27-44), together they account for ~93.5% of users under age 45. This demographic tilt suggests Indus is especially resonant with digitally native younger users.
What It Means for the App Ecosystem
- Localized Discovery Matters More: The growth underscores how critical regional language support and discoverability are in India—users are more likely to engage when apps/UI are in languages they understand.
- Opportunities for Developers: As the store penetrates deeper into Tier 3 and smaller markets, app developers focusing on regional content, entertainment, social media, and finance can see more opportunity.
- Competition & Regulation: Indus presents another healthy alternative to dominant app stores, especially given its flexibility (e.g. in-app billing, localization). This could push for more competition & policy support for local app ecosystems.
Quotes & Company Position
Priya M. Narasimhan, Chief Business Officer of Indus Appstore, remarked:
“It’s a proud moment for all of us to cross the 10-crore milestone, and it is an important step in our journey of building a horizontal app store for India. We will continue to offer our users a seamless, safe, and rich app selection experience … We will also continue to support the developer ecosystem …”
Challenges & Next Steps
- Maintaining trust and quality: As user base increases, ensuring app safety/security, performance, and content moderation becomes more challenging.
- Improving discovery in regional apps: Even though regional language support is strong, discovering lesser-known local apps remains a challenge.
- Monetization and developer support: To sustain growth, monetization models, payout terms, and developer tools (especially for smaller/regional devs) will be key.
Conclusion
Crossing 100 million device installs is a big milestone for Indus Appstore. It signals that with the right mix of localization, young user base, and reach into Tier-3 and rural areas, India’s app economy has room for indigenous players to thrive. For developers, this growth opens up new frontiers; for users, it means better localized experiences; and for the industry, more competition and innovation.
