Paytm says it has launched a ‘Mini App Store’ but it hasn’t

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

Indian digital payments app giant, Paytm is sending out a press release saying that it has launched a Mini App Store for Indian developers. It comes a few days after tech entrepreneurs in India rallied for a national app store. In reality, the new ‘App Store’ isn’t an app store. Paytm is just hosting links to progressive Web apps (PWAs). For reference, these are light apps that can run within a Web browser without requiring any installation.

As per the press release, the Mini App store is designed to help small developers and businesses in India to set up low-cost and easy-to-build apps. The company is associating its latest development to the “Atmanirbhar Bharat mission”, which has been the trending buzz word in the Indian app ecosystem since the TikTok ban.

Paytm says this app store has been running in beta with “select users”. Further, it goes on to say that it witnessed over 12 million visits in the month of September. I’m not a beta tester for the Paytm app and this ‘Mini App Store’ has been active for a couple of months now. You can go to the “Discover” section in the Paytm app to browse the PWAs. It looks like the company has just announced its Mini App Store to ride on nationalism sentiments in the country.

It all comes after Google removed Paytm from its Play Store for a short while. Although, within a few hours it was restored. However, Paytm published a blog post accusing Google of “making policies which are over and above the laws” in India and implementing them “arbitrarily.” Google replied with another blog post to bust Paytm’s claim saying online casinos or unregulated gambling apps that facilitate betting on sports are not allowed on the platform. Still, according to Paytm, Google “enormous control over which apps you download through its Play Store policies.”

Recently, Google also announced that it would enforce its 30 percent fee for apps that are on Google Play but are not using its billing system. This development led Indian app developers and entrepreneurs to demand a national app store alternative to Google Play. Now, Paytm aims to counter the Play Store with its Mini App Store that isn’t even a real app store.

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Google rebuts Paytm’s claim that said it was removed for providing cashbacks

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

Last week, Paytm was removed briefly from the Google Play Store for violating the platform’s content rules. Although, within a few hours it was restored. However, Paytm published a blog post accusing Google of “making policies which are over and above the laws” in India and implementing them “arbitrarily.” Now, Google has come up with a reply to those claims.

In its blog post published on Sunday, Paytm said that it had launched a UPI cashback campaign called Paytm Cricket League on September 11. In the campaign, “users could collect cricket stickers & scratch cards to earn UPI cashback.” Within a week, the company received an email from Google Play Support that said the app had been delisted. It said, “Your app contains content that doesn’t comply with the Gambling policy as it offers games with ‘loyalty’ (e.g. engagement or activity) points that (1) are accrued or accelerated via real-money purchases which (2) can be exchanged for items or prizes of real-world monetary value.”

Paytm also said that contrary to the accepted practice, it was not given any opportunity to respond. “e maintain that our cashback campaign was within guidelines, as well as all laws of the land. We did not break any rules and there was no violation. It is not related to gambling in any manner whatsoever,” added Paytm. It also noted, “Google, as a result, has enormous control over which apps you download through its Play Store policies. It also makes billions of dollars in advertising revenues from the Indian startups that make these apps. In many cases like maps, email, payments, shopping, cloud storage, etc, Google also has apps that compete with other apps, including, of course, the apps that are made by Indian startups.”

Google replied to these accusations today. It said that online casinos or unregulated gambling apps that facilitate betting on sports are not allowed on the platform. Here’s the full statement:

“Offering cashbacks and vouchers alone do not constitute a violation of our Google Play gambling policies. Last week we reiterated our Play Store gambling policies. Our policies don’t allow online casinos or support any unregulated gambling apps that facilitate sports betting, including daily fantasy sports in India. We enforce our policies very thoughtfully to provide a safe and secure experience for consumers, while also giving developers the platform and tools they need to build sustainable businesses. In the case of repeated policy violations, we may take more serious action which may include terminating Google Play Developer accounts. Our policies are applied and enforced on all developers consistently.”

The post Google rebuts Paytm’s claim that said it was removed for providing cashbacks appeared first on Pocketnow.

Google rebuts Paytm’s claim that said it was removed for providing cashbacks

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

Last week, Paytm was removed briefly from the Google Play Store for violating the platform’s content rules. Although, within a few hours it was restored. However, Paytm published a blog post accusing Google of “making policies which are over and above the laws” in India and implementing them “arbitrarily.” Now, Google has come up with a reply to those claims.

In its blog post published on Sunday, Paytm said that it had launched a UPI cashback campaign called Paytm Cricket League on September 11. In the campaign, “users could collect cricket stickers & scratch cards to earn UPI cashback.” Within a week, the company received an email from Google Play Support that said the app had been delisted. It said, “Your app contains content that doesn’t comply with the Gambling policy as it offers games with ‘loyalty’ (e.g. engagement or activity) points that (1) are accrued or accelerated via real-money purchases which (2) can be exchanged for items or prizes of real-world monetary value.”

Paytm also said that contrary to the accepted practice, it was not given any opportunity to respond. “e maintain that our cashback campaign was within guidelines, as well as all laws of the land. We did not break any rules and there was no violation. It is not related to gambling in any manner whatsoever,” added Paytm. It also noted, “Google, as a result, has enormous control over which apps you download through its Play Store policies. It also makes billions of dollars in advertising revenues from the Indian startups that make these apps. In many cases like maps, email, payments, shopping, cloud storage, etc, Google also has apps that compete with other apps, including, of course, the apps that are made by Indian startups.”

Google replied to these accusations today. It said that online casinos or unregulated gambling apps that facilitate betting on sports are not allowed on the platform. Here’s the full statement:

“Offering cashbacks and vouchers alone do not constitute a violation of our Google Play gambling policies. Last week we reiterated our Play Store gambling policies. Our policies don’t allow online casinos or support any unregulated gambling apps that facilitate sports betting, including daily fantasy sports in India. We enforce our policies very thoughtfully to provide a safe and secure experience for consumers, while also giving developers the platform and tools they need to build sustainable businesses. In the case of repeated policy violations, we may take more serious action which may include terminating Google Play Developer accounts. Our policies are applied and enforced on all developers consistently.”

The post Google rebuts Paytm’s claim that said it was removed for providing cashbacks appeared first on Pocketnow.