Google is finally stepping onto the ‘Make in India’ bandwagon. At its first Google Play App Excellence Summit in India, Google has announced the addition of a special Made for India section in its Play Store. Needless to say, this section would only be available only to Google Play users in India.
Google believes that its Made for India initiative will help fuel development of more indigenous apps in the country. Currently, India is the most popular market for Google, having more Android users than in the US. Furthermore, Google Play in India has seen a 150% YoY growth in terms of downloads. For stats, Indian users install more than 1 Billion apps every month from Google Play.
Developing an app for billions? Keep these six touchpoints in mind to ensure it gives everyone an optimized experience. #AppExcellenceSummit pic.twitter.com/zyTPxTDKcy
— Google India (@GoogleIndia) August 1, 2017
As a part of the initiative, the apps listed on the Made for India section would be specifically optimized for Indian users. Google has listed out a set of criteria for including apps in this section. Considering, the slow data speeds in the country, Google will be giving priority to minimized data consumption while selecting an app for this section. That aside, app size, localization support, battery optimization would be other key factors for the Made for India initiative. To get a chance to feature in this section, developers need to submit their app at g.co/play/madeforindia.
Google reports that ever since the introduction of easier modes of payments, Indian users are investing heavily in the paid apps. The Mountain View based giant reveal that its revenue from paid apps has been growing at a 3X speed throughout last year. Google Play currently supports pre-paid and post-paid carrier billing for Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea. Furthermore, payments can be made via Google Play gift cards and recharge codes.
Before the Made for India announcement, Google had unveiled its Build for Billions program in the country last year. Through this program, it essentially helped the developers overcome difficulties like high data costs, varying network connectivity and device specifications.
