India-based mobile wallet company Paytm unveiled plans to support the development of domestic apps, with the aim to host one million apps on its in-house platform by Q1 2021, Times of India reported.

The newspaper cited comments made at company event by CEO of the company Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who reportedly announced Paytm will invest INR100 million ($1,4 million) to encourage developers to build apps for its app marketplace, dubbed Paytm Mini App Store.

Paytm unveiled the platform earlier this week, explaining it was “a custom-built mobile website that gives users app-like experience” without downloading services.

The move also provides an alternative to Google Play Store, which will enforce a 30 per cent charge on Indian developers for app purchases made from April 2022.
Google extended the deadline to implement the billing policy in the Indian market, which is its typical fee, earlier this month.

Paytm is aiming to achieve the one million apps milestone before Google brings its charging obligations to Indian developers, added Sharma.

The spat between the two companies began on 18 September when Google removed Paytm from its app store due to alleged policy violations.

Paytm was reinstated on Google Play Store shortly after.