PAYTM takes on Google, launches its own app store

New Delhi: Paytm Mini App Store has been launched within the digital payments app, the company announced on Monday. Paytm announced this just days after tech entrepreneurs in India rallied for a national app store, but this is slightly different. Instead of giving native apps and developer tools, Paytm is hosting links to progressive Web apps (PWAs) which are light apps that can run within a Web browser without requiring any installation. As of now, the Mini App Store only has a few apps listed, although Paytm plans to list 300 services in the coming days.

According to Paytm’s press release, the Mini App store has been designed to help small developers and businesses in India to set up low-cost and easy-to-build apps using HTML and Javascript. These apps open within a window inside the Paytm app itself, and the listings will also be free, Paytm said.

Paytm will also provide developers with free payment avenues including Paytm Wallet, Paytm Payments Bank, and UPI. However, it should be noted that a two percent extra charge is levied for payments using credit cards. For developers, Paytm has also provided a dashboard for analytics, payments collection, and various marketing tools to better engage with users.

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