What the business is
Indus Appstore is a PhonePe-owned app discovery and distribution platform for Android in India, supporting 12 Indian languages alongside English.
How it started
Founded in 2013 by Akash Dongre, Rakesh Deshmukh and Sudhir Bangera, Indus OS partnered with Micromax in 2015 and expanded across multiple smartphone brands; per Dongre, it became India's second-largest mobile operating system by shipments in 2016. It pivoted to the app store business in 2019, partnering with Samsung to bring its marketplace to devices across the country.
What happened
PhonePe acquired Indus OS in July 2022 following a prolonged legal battle and rebranded it Indus Appstore, formally launching in February 2024 as a homegrown alternative to the Google Play Store. Xiaomi India onboarded in March 2025 and the platform crossed 150 million users. Deshmukh had transitioned away in early 2024; Dongre's LinkedIn post made him the second cofounder to go.
What has to be true
Both cofounders are now gone from the platform they started — a milestone for India's Play Store challenger.
The arc is complete and dated: regional-language OS, pivot, acquisition after a legal battle, launch, scale, founder exit.
The scale claim — 150 million users — is on the record alongside the leadership vacuum.
What can be applied
When an acquirer absorbs a founder-led bet, count the founders: once the last one leaves, the platform's origin story becomes someone else's product line.
Aftermath
As of the report, Indus Appstore continued under new leadership with 150 million users and Xiaomi on board; Dongre was taking time off before deciding on his next move.
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