Google has finally included India in the list of countries from where developers can register as Google Checkout merchants and sell paid applications on the Play store.
The move comes in the wake of rising Android device activations in the country, which Google says has gone past 400 percent, and has helped bring millions of new users to Google Play.
“In the last six months, Android users in India downloaded more apps than in the previous three years combined, and India has rocketed to become the fourth-largest market worldwide for app downloads. To help developers capitalize on this tremendous growth, we are launching Google Play seller support in India,” Google said in a blog post.
Inclusion of India to the list comes shortly after the company perhaps inadvertently added it to the paid app list, but removed it later.
Developers from India can now sell apps, in-app products and subscriptions. Payments will be released monthly to local bank accounts, according to the announcement.
“They [developers] can take advantage of all of the tools offered by Google Play to monetize their products in the best way for their businesses, and they can target their products to the paid ecosystem of hundreds of millions of users in India and across the world,” added Google.
If you are an Android developer based in India, you have to sign in to your Developer Console and set up a Google Checkout merchant account. If your apps are published as free, you can still monetize them by adding in-app products or subscriptions. For new applications, developers need to publish the apps as paid, along with selling in-app products or subscriptions.
“When you’ve prepared your apps and in-app products, you can price them in any available currencies, publish, and then receive payouts and financial data in your local currency. Visit the developer help center for complete details,” explains Google.
“Along with seller support, we’re also adding buyer’s currency support for India. We encourage developers everywhere to visit your Developer Console as soon as possible to set prices for your products in Indian Rupees and other new currencies (such as Russian Rubles).”
Find out more about the Google Play Seller Support in India here.
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