New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS): Union IT and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is set to inaugurate Indus Appstore -- the first-ever ‘Made-in-India’ Android-based app store -- on February 21, leading fintech and digital payments leader PhonePe said on Friday.

As a steadfast advocate of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, the minister will witness first-hand the monumental leap towards self-reliance taken by the ground-breaking app store.

“In a global-first move, the Indian startup ecosystem will come together at the milestone launch to challenge the technological, commercial and distribution monopoly of global players, and democratise the Android app marketplace,” the company said in a statement.

The Indus Appstore launch event will host over 300 members from the startup and developer communities empowered by the app marketplace.

This includes CEOs and founders of path-breaking and innovative companies from India who are coming together in a show of strength, said the company.

The event will delve into the app store's creation journey, offering an insider's perspective on the vision, strategic choices and technical complexities while building the Appstore.

The panel discussions curated with speakers from the Indian business and developer community, will ignite meaningful conversations and provide critical insights, PhonePe said.

For more details about the event, please visit the event microsite.

Indus Appstore is a native Android-based mobile app store, designed to fulfill the localised and cultural needs of Indian consumers.

“With an extensive array of categories it seeks to provide users a localised, contextual and a personalised experience,” according to the company.

Indus Appstore is available in English and 12 Indian languages, which allows users to explore the App store in their preferred language.

For developers, Indus Appstore provides a fair and level playing field to list, distribute and promote their products in the Indian app ecosystem.

“It provides a self-publishing platform, localization services, multiple tools to monitor and grow their apps along with a dedicated 24×7 customer support,” the company informed.

PhonePe is India’s leading consumer payments app with more than 510 million registered users and a digital payments acceptance network of 38 million merchants.

It also processes over 220 million daily transactions with an annualized total payment value (TPV) of $1.4 trillion.