India’s popular apps are bundling services to become giants

Indian apps like Truecaller, PayTM, PhonePe and more, are taking a leaf from China’s WeChat. They are adding new features and services to their traditional one-service model in an attempt to monopolise users’ attention and engagement.

Truecaller will be soon releasing a credit option to its range of services, which have grown from the simple caller ID feature, to that of texting, recording calls, and mobile payment features. PayTM, on the other hand, has gaming features that engage its audience. According to PayTM Founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, this gives you a good shot at disrupting businesses that generate fewer transactions.

These apps are following the tried and tested format of Chinese apps as well as old-school TV giants such as Fox and Star, who started broadening their services to capitalise on users’ time. The services remove the need or attempt by users to switch apps for various purposes, thereby becoming bigger, stronger, and so-called super apps.

Read more about this trend here.