Paytm announces Rs 10 crore fund for its new Mini App Store developers

Increasing its stake in its ongoing fight with Google, leading digital payments platform Paytm on Thursday announced a Rs 10-crore fund for mini apps developers in the country. Addressing a mini apps developer conference, Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said that he is targeting “at least one million mini apps” to put an end to “the victimisation of 30 per cent charges Google is putting on all of us.”

Google faced criticism from developers after it announced its policy asking them to integrate with the Play Store billing system.

However, Google on Monday said it has extended the time for developers in India who use alternative payment system, to integrate with the Play Store billing system till March 31, 2022. As the announcement came, Paytm which is involved in a stand-off with Google after its own app was removed from its Play Store recently, launched an Android Mini App Store to support local developers take their innovative products to the masses.

Mini apps are a custom-built mobile website that gives users app-like experience without having to download them.

Earlier this week, Paytm launched its new Mini App Store. The launch of Paytm’s App Store will give direct competition to Google’s Play store for the Android OS. The company claims that more than 300 apps like Decathlon, Ola, Rapido, and Dominos Pizza will join the Paytm App Store.

Both companies dispute increased when Paytm was temporarily banned from the Google Play Store. Last month, Google accused Paytm of violating Play store rules and promoting gambling activities. After Paytm, Google had sent a notice to food aggregator platforms like Swiggy and Zomato on a similar charge. However, now all three apps have returned to the Google Play store.

Written with agency inputs