Indian govt app challenge contest gets around 7000 entries

After banning 59 Chinese apps (and it followed it with 275 more), the Indian government got down to create an ecosystem of its own apps.

To spur action and motivate companies and individuals to get down to creating interesting apps, the Indian government had announced "Aatma Nirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge".

Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month, the idea was to support and build a strong lineup of Indian apps.

The response, as per the government, has been phenomenal. July 26 was the last date for the entires, and a total of 6,940 entries have been received by the government so far.

Now the government will get down to the task of vetting and shortlisting the entries.

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The break-up of the apps submitted

Of the 6,940 entries received, 3,939 are from individuals and remaining 3,001 are from organisations and companies. 

Around 1,757 applications received from individuals are ready to use and the remaining 2,182 are under development. 

A total of 1,742 apps, submitted by organisations, have already been deployed and the remaining 1,259 are under development.

Giving a break-up of the various apps, the Ministry of Electronics and IT, said 1,142 app entries have been filed under Business, 901 under Health and Wellness, 1,062 under e-Learning,  1,155 under Social Networking, 326 under Games, 662 under Office and Work from Home, 237 under News and 320 under Entertainment. Around 1,135 Apps have been submitted under the Other category. 

Around 271 of these apps have more than 100,000 downloads, with 89 apps boasting million-plus downloads.

"This shows the talent that exists in our country and this App Innovation Challenge is the right opportunity for Indian Tech Developers, Entrepreneurs and companies to build for India at a scale, that is unparalleled anywhere in the world. The true challenge will be to identify the apps that are robust, scalable, secure with an easy to use interface and give users an experience that will make them come back to the app," the Ministry said.

More to come

Screening committees have already begun scrutinising the apps on various parameters. Just the top 3 companies with maximum downloads of apps, this year have a total market cap of almost $2 trillion and are growing very fast, the ministry added.

The App Innovation Challenge included the promotion of existing apps as well as the development of new apps. Categorised into two tracks, the Track 1 Innovation Challenge included identifying the best Indian Apps that are already being used by citizens and have the potential to scale and become world-class apps in their respective categories.  

To be completed in a month, this Innovation Challenge with various cash awards and incentives for apps featuring on Leader Boards seeks to create an ecosystem where Indian entrepreneurs and start-ups are incentivised to ideate, incubate, build, nurture and sustain technology solutions to serve Indian citizens as well as their world. 

"The outcome of this challenge will be to give better visibility and clarity to existing Apps to achieve their goals, and to create tech products to find solutions to tech conundrums with the help of mentorship, tech support and guidance during the entire life-cycle," Modi had said at the time of the launch.

Subsequent to this App Innovation Challenge, the government will also launch Track 2 of the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge that will seek to identify Indian start-ups, entrepreneurs, companies and encourage them with ideation, incubation, prototyping and roll out of applications.

Source: PIB

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