Paytm Mini App Store Launched for Indian Developers, to Have Over 300 Apps Including Ola and Domino’s Pizza
On Monday, Paytm announced that the Paytm Mini App Store has been released within the digital payments app. The company intimated this few days after several tech entrepreneurs in India demanded a national app store, but this is a little different. Paytm isn’t providing native apps and developer tools instead it is hosting links to progressive Web apps (PWAs) which are light apps that can be accessed within a Web browser without needing any installation. Right now, the Mini App Store only has a few apps available, although Paytm aims to list around 300 services in the coming days.
As per Paytm’s press release, the Mini App Store has been built to encourage small developers and businesses in the country to create low-cost and easy-to-design apps using HTML and Javascript. These applications can be viewed within a window inside the Paytm app itself, and the listings will be free of cost, Paytm added.
Paytm will also offer developers free payment services including Paytm Wallet, Paytm Payments Bank, and UPI. However, it is important to note that a two percent additional charge is levied for credit card payments. Paytm has also provided developers with a dashboard for analytics, payment collection, and other marketing tools to better engage with users.
The Mini App Store has been in its beta testing phase for quite some time now in the country. Quickly it has become popular with a small number of apps such as AQI Monitor, MojoPizza, Horoscope, EMI Calculator, Unit Converter, and Speedtest. Over 300 app-based service providers including big names like Decathlon, Netmeds, FreshMenu, Domino’s Pizza, Ola, and NoBroker have already registered in the program. These apps are projected to make their entry to the Mini App Store soon.
You can access the Mini App Store using Paytm App. On the home page, click on Show More > Mini App Store from the pop-up menu. The portal enables direct access to users to browse, use, and make payments through apps, without any extra downloads or installs.
Last month, Google had announced that it plans to impose its 30 percent fee for apps that are on Google Play but still are not using its billing system. This made many entrepreneurs and app developers in India to demand an indigenous app store as an alternative to Google Play.
In this matter, Google has postponed levying the 30-percent in-app commission for developers in India until March 31, 2022. The tech giant says that the delay has been brought in place so that Indian developers “have enough time to implement the UPI for subscription option that will be made available on Google Play – for all apps that currently use an alternative payment system.”
Paytm was among one of the major Indian apps that were de-listed from Google Play recently. Google later clarified that Paytm was pulled from the platform for violating its content rules, and not for offering cashbacks and vouchers, as Paytm stated.
