AppNirbhar Bharat: A YourStory report with an 11-point recommendation for creating a robust app ecosystem

Over the past few years, India has undergone a rapid transformation into a digitally empowered society. With a digital population of over 600 million, India is today ranked the world’s second-largest online market.

The country’s startup ecosystem has also grown to become the third-largest globally, with its entrepreneurs and tech innovators building lasting solutions to solve for not only India, but also for the world.

India is also the top country in the world in terms of the number of apps installed and used per month. India’s app ecosystem has, in fact, never been in a greater position of strength, thanks to the renewed enthusiasm and vigour among Indian techies, innovators, and entrepreneurs to build from India, for India and the world.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently raised the clarion call for India to become ‘vocal for local’ and Aatmanirbhar, or self-reliant, he also put the spotlight on the need for an ‘Aatmanirbhar App Ecosystem’ when he launched the Government of India’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge.

“Today, when the entire nation is working towards creating an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, it is a good opportunity to give direction to their efforts, momentum to their hard work, and mentorship to their talent to evolve Apps which can satisfy our market as well as compete with the world,” PM Modi said.

Indeed, India has shown the world that it is second to none when it comes to building tech solutions, at scale, which can compete with global rivals and find use cases in different markets. It’s encouraging to note that all these world-class solutions have been developed with a unique model of partnership between government, industry, and academia.

That’s why I believe that PM Modi’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge is yet another bold step in that direction, and a momentous opportunity for Indian tech developers, entrepreneurs, and companies to build for India at a scale and get a pie of the multi-billion-dollar global app market.

Most importantly, I believe these apps will give rise to an Aatmanirbhar App Ecosystem, as envisioned by PM Modi, and go on to inspire many other app developers to solve for India and build world-class apps for the world.

To honour this historic step in the move towards a more Aatmanirbhar App Ecosystem, or what we at YourStory are calling an AppNirbhar Bharat, we present YourStory Research’s AppNirbhar Bharat report.

YourStory Research’s AppNirbhar Bharat Report aims to:

1. Celebrate the innovations and efforts by India’s very own app developers — with a particular focus on the 24 winners of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge
2. Showcase many of the other more established Made in India apps and some notable new and upcoming apps, many of whom participated in YourStory Research’s month-long AppNirbhar Bharat survey
3. Highlight emerging trends in India’s mobile app development space based on YourStory’s app survey
4. Most importantly, provide an 11-point recommendation for enabling a robust Indian app ecosystem, which includes creating a Bharat AppStore, homegrown mobile phone software ecosystem, and an equity-based, regulated crowdfunding infrastructure in India, among others.

The report also features a message from Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Law & Justice, Communications & Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India, who writes, "I congratulate the entire team of YourStory, led by Shradha Sharma, for this pioneering research report on Indian app ecosystem...I am happy to note that some concrete suggestions have been shared by YourStory in this report for creating a vibrant mobile app ecosystem in India. Let's work on these suggestions."

More personally, this report highlights YourStory’s continued commitment to championing the stories and achievements of Indian innovators and changemakers — so that, together, we can write the future of a nation that can be truly Aatmanirbhar.

Here’s to an AppNirbhar Bharat.

Join us at TechSparks 2020 for a detailed discussion on the recommendations and how we can shape the future of an Indian app ecosystem.

Click here to register now.