India To Play Critical Role In Global App Ecosystem Evolution: Google Play Executive

India will play a critical role in the evolution of the global app ecosystem in the coming decade, a Google Play executive has said.

“From leading in-app adoptions to emerging as a large global developer hub, India will play a critical role in the evolution of the global app ecosystem in the coming decade,” Google Play Partnership’s director Aditya Swamy said on Thursday (August 18).

He made the comments while celebrating the app marketplace’s ten years of operations.

“India is today uniquely positioned to become a leading hub for global app innovation and there is tremendous potential for Indian startups across the country – regardless of size and geography – to thrive in the global app ecosystem,” said Swamy.

Swamy also said that the tech giant will continue to invest in local initiatives to solve local challenges.

“…we will continue to invest in initiatives that enable a diverse range of developers to build helpful apps and successful businesses on Play,” he added.

Besides, Google Play also said that Indian apps and games saw a 200% increase in active monthly users and an 80% increase in consumers spends on Play Store in 2021 as compared to 2019. Apart from that, users outside the country also spent 150% more time on Indian apps in 2021 compared to 2019. 

The executive also said that the company is ‘committed to India’s thriving app and developer ecosystem’ and to build a local and helpful Play for India.  

“We will continue to bring the best of our global experience and innovation to India, while staying focused on solving for local opportunities and challenges”, added Swamy.

The app marketplace also said that it aims to enable developers to reach 2.5 Bn monthly active users in 190 countries across the globe on Google Play Store. 

The tech giant also claimed that it scans more than 125 Bn apps per day to protect users from abusive or malicious apps, and has trained more than 80,000 developers in India at its Play Academy since 2018, the highest in the world. 

Google Play Store was launched in 2012 with the merger of Android Market, Google Music and Google eBookStore. The app marketplace caters to the 95.1% of the Indian audience which owns an Android phone and allows users to download apps directly. 

Of late, the app marketplace has been facing some peculiar challenges in India. Considering its stranglehold over the Indian markets, it has been in the line of fire for alleged market dominance. 

In March this year, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) termed Play Store’s billing policy ‘unfair’ and ‘discriminatory.’ The app marketplace has also been in the dock for allegedly suppressing products of competitors and promoting its own products, and charging hefty amounts from developers and forcing its payments systems on developers. 

According to an Inc42 report, India had the second-highest app downloads in the world, with more than 27 Bn downloads in 2021. 

The Indian app market is expected to surge to $2.3 Bn in revenue by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 9.22%