PhonePe has confirmed that it has closed terms with one of the largest Android smartphone makers as it steams ahead on its road to launch an India-centric app store, rivalling long-term giants Apple and Google Play.
The digital payments company plans to be live on all Android OEMs within the first few months of launch, without giving an exact timeline, the company said in response to BQ Prime's query.
In July 2022, the Sameer Nigam-led company acquired IndusOS after an out-of-court settlement with Affle India Ltd. Indus OS is a mobile platform that has built an Android-based app store termed Indus App Bazaar.
"In the Indian context today, we have one of the largest consumer bases in the world. We want to build an alternate app store that is more localised, not just from a language perspective but also from a discovery and consumer interest perspective," the company told BQ Prime.
The company is in "multiple conversations" with all the OEMs in India, and everyone is very receptive, especially since CCI has clarified that Google cannot engage in anti-competitive practises, the company said. "All the OEMs are excited about PhonePe building out a localised app store for the Indian market."
The decacorn is currently in the middle of a massive $1 billion fundraising exercise, having already raised $750 million of the sum. With the money, it has expressed intent to scale new businesses like insurance, wealth management, lending, stockbroking, and account aggregators.
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