SMFG India Credit partners with PhonePe to provide micro-merchant loans

Bengaluru

Indus Appstore, India’s homegrown Android app marketplace, has crossed a major milestone, reaching 10 crore devices. A key factor behind its success is the app store’s localization feature, which allows users to explore apps in 12 Indian languages along with English. Around 40% of users prefer regional languages, with Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, and Gujarati topping the list. The platform has a strong presence in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Maharashtra, with Karnataka and Telangana also emerging as major user hubs.

Priya M Narasimhan, Chief Business Officer of Indus Appstore, said, “Crossing the 10-crore milestone is a proud moment and an important step in our journey to build a truly horizontal app store for India. We aim to provide users a seamless, safe, and rich app discovery experience while supporting developers in reaching the right audiences with features tailored for India’s regional and cultural context.”

The app store’s growth is strongly driven by India’s young population. Gen-Z users (18-27 years) make up 33.7% of the base, and together with Gen-Y (27-44 years), they account for nearly 93.5% of users under 45. Core users from tier-3 locations are predominantly males aged 28-44, highlighting deep penetration in rural and small-city markets, with over 70% of users coming from these regions.

Indus Appstore offers a wide range of app categories, with social media apps leading in popularity, followed by communication, entertainment, and finance apps. The platform continues to focus on delivering a localized, user-friendly experience while nurturing the Indian developer ecosystem, positioning itself as more than just an app store, but a discovery platform for millions of users across the country.

NBFC SMFG India Credit (SMICC) has partnered with PhonePe to offer collateral-free loans to merchants. Under this collaboration, SMICC will provide Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) loans to registered PhonePe merchants, including many from Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns across India. The partnership aims to strengthen SMICC’s presence as a leading lender in the merchant cash advance sector while reinforcing its role in the growing digital lending ecosystem, making credit access easier and faster for small and medium merchants nationwide.