PhonePe’s Indus Appstore Partners Xiaomi India To Boost Accessibility

Fintech giant PhonePe’s app marketplace Indus Appstore has partnered with Xiaomi India to replace the existing app store on its mobile phones.

Under the partnership, Indus will come pre-installed on all new Xiaomi smartphones. Besides, Indus will also replace Xiaomi’s GetApps on old devices. This is part of PhonePe’s efforts to improve the accessibility of its app marketplace. 

“By combining Xiaomi India’s reach with our localised app discovery platform, we’re creating opportunities for developers while delivering a seamless, culturally-relevant experience to users,” Indus’ chief business officer Priya Narasimhan said.

PhonePe launched Indus last year to take on tech giants Google and Apple. Back then, the app store was launched in English and 12 Indian languages and the company said that there would be no app listing fee for developers till March 2025.

The company said that Indus hosted more than 2 Lakh apps across 45 categories then. Several Indian brands, like Zomato, Myntra, Flipkart, Dream11, and Swiggy, have published their apps on Indus.

The app marketplace provides features like video-led app discovery system and voice search. 

PhonePe acquired the parent of Indus, which was cofounded by Rakesh Deshmukh, Akash Dongre and Sudhir Bangarambandi, in 2022 for $90 Mn. 

The launch of the app store was part of PhonePe’s plans to diversify its offerings before its public listing. The Walmart-owned fintech has been expanding its offerings over the past few years. Besides payment solutions, it also offers local commerce via Pincode, online trading app Share.Market, insurance and loans, among others.

Last month, PhonePe said it has kicked off the preparations for its initial public offering (IPO). The company is said to have roped in Kotak Mahindra Capital, JP Morgan, Citi, and Morgan Stanley as investment bankers for its public issue.