PhonePe's Indus Appstore Partners With Xiaomi India to Challenge Google Play Store Dominance
Xiaomi India has ditched its GetApps store in favor of PhonePe's Indus Appstore in a significant shakeup for India's app marketplace scene. The multi-year deal will see Indus Appstore pre-installed on all new Xiaomi smartphones sold across India.
The move gives PhonePe's fledgling app store instant credibility and millions of potential users through one of India's bestselling smartphone brands. For Xiaomi, the partnership aligns with growing calls for localized digital services explicitly tailored to Indian consumers.
"This partnership is just our first big step toward completely changing how Indians find and use mobile apps," said Indus Appstore's Chief Business Officer Priya Narasimhan. The platform currently hosts more than five lakh apps and games spanning 45 categories.
Indus Appstore is highly focused on India due to its various features, such as:
- App discovery in 12 Indian languages
- Voice search that works in 10 regional languages
- Video previews in place of static screenshots
These India-specific touches aim to attract users who find Google Play's experience lacking local relevance.
Xiaomi's COO Sudhin Mathur framed the decision as responding to market needs: "India's digital ecosystem keeps growing, and so has the need for an app marketplace that actually understands local users and developers."
The deal marks a crucial distribution breakthrough for Indus Appstore because earlier, they required the users to download the app manually. Undoubtedly, this was a technical barrier for many users. Earlier partnerships with smaller players, such as Nokia and Lava, provided limited reach compared to the Xiaomi arrangement.
PhonePe recently expanded access options by launching a web-based marketplace with QR codes for direct downloads. However, pre-installation on millions of new phones represents their most significant opportunity yet to challenge Google's near-monopoly on Android app distribution in India.
The alliance creates yet another front in India's push toward digital self-reliance. Homegrown alternatives are increasingly challenging established global tech platforms across multiple segments of the country's booming digital economy.