To counter the problem of lack of replication of e-governance applications developed by different states, the government has launched an ‘Application Store’ (App Store) which will have all the successful e-governance applications developed by various states. The App Store was launched by union IT and communications minister Kapil Sibal in Delhi Friday. It has been developed by the Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY) in collaboration with National Informatics Centre (NIC).

The App Store will be available on the address apps.gov.in.

The applications present on the store would be downloadable by state governments and also citizens and other organisations so that they are used widely and not stuck in the silos of a state/region where they were developed.

Congratulating DeitY on the launch of the store, Sibal said, “The government is providing App Store on the lines of the Apple App store which will allow innovation on the basis of customer innovation,” he said.

J Satyanarayana, secretary, IT, government of India, on the occasion of the launch, said that the App Store would be a national-level repository for productised applications, components and web services. “The time has come that we need to be able to replicate applications developed by different states departments for use anywhere,” he said.

Satyanarayana said that the government needs to create an environment for product development and needs to create a directory where anyone can look up for proven products. “We need to develop common standards for app developers,” he said.

The App Store will currently have 20 applications which have been developed by NIC. They are divided into three kinds, free apps (which will be socially relevant and free to download), apps which can be downloaded with cost and restricted apps which could only be downloaded by government departments. Apps such as e-procurement, e-hospitals and public distribution system will be present on the App Store. Roughly, half the number of apps on the store work in the domain of government-to-citizen (G2C) services.

Satyanarayana appealed to the state governments to use the App Store for rapid replication of applications in their respective states.

Satyanarayana said that private players will be allowed to put their apps on the App Store though the government is still to formulate policy for the same. “We have a target of three months to come up with a policy to allow private app developers on the App Store,” Satyanarayana said.

There is a target to add 100 apps to the App Store in the next three years, he added. 

The App Store is in its early stages now and will offer better features to the users in the future. It will provide, among other things, comparison of apps in the future which will allow users to choose the best app amongst the ones present on the store.

Sibal said that the App Store will reduce the element of distress and uncertainty in government processes. “It will bring the much needed transparency which people of India need to grapple with the present problems,” he said.