Pay for Google Play content in India through direct carrier billing with Idea Cellular

India is the latest place where we’re making direct carrier billing, or DCB, available. Working together with Idea Cellular, we’re helping to make it easier for over 150 million Indians to pay for the content they want on Google Play. In a country where the vast majority of people don’t have access to credit cards, enabling Idea Cellular’s subscribers to charge their Play purchases to their pre- or post-paid phone bills will help bring more people closer to the best apps, games and movies.

We’ve seen tremendous growth in the app ecosystem wherever we’ve supported DCB. In Indonesia, for example, the number of people who make app and in-app purchases has quadrupled since we launched DCB there in March 2015. Payment options like DCB create immense opportunities for app developers in India, where nearly 1 in 3 Indians own a smartphone today, but less than 3% of the population use credit cards.

I’ve heard from many developers like Bangalore-based Moonfrog Labs, who build games especially for players in India. Moonfrog is excited that millions of Indians can now more easily make micro-payments for their favorite in-app purchases, games, movies and apps. Together with a lower minimum purchase price for apps on Google Play and Google Play pre-paid vouchers available in India, developers will be able to reach even more users and continue to build successful businesses on the platform.