Government's mSeva app store gains popularity as call for homegrown alternatives grows

mSeva or Mobile Seva has been developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's Centre for Development of Advanced Computing

The government's mSeva app store has seen more than 9 crore downloads, and more than 100 new apps are added to the platform each month, Kapil Kant Kamal, joint director in the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) told Moneycontrol. This comes at a time when there has been an increased call for homegrown alternatives to Google and Apple.

The C-DAC, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), developed the platform.

The app store was launched in 2013 and served government departments as a one-stop platform for hosting all their apps.

However, since then, the mSeva app store has been revamped and opened up to host apps from private mobile developers, with uploading and downloading of apps being free. Currently, the app store has 1,250 apps on the platform.

With 1.38 billion people in India, the government sees this as an opportunity to promote platforms such as mSeva, as a "trusted, indigenous platform for mobile apps," Kamal said.

"Every Indian app and developer should be able to join the mSeva app store in the future without encountering any difficulties or making compromises due to a lack of funding for them to show off their skills," Kamal said.

This comes at a time when Google has received widespread criticism for its Play Store billing system, which requires app developers to use it for in-app purchases. Developers have been complaining about the 15-30 percent commission that Google charges for all in-app purchases made through the Play Store.

Indian startups have also been particularly upset with Google, and this sentiment played a major role in Big Tech companies being voted out of the newly-elected governing council of the Internet and Mobile Association of India.

Security at the forefront

The C-DAC joint director said that attention is given to preventing any unauthorized access. This includes verifying developers' registrations and checking apps on various tiers for numerous vulnerable elements.

The apps go through vulnerability and penetration testing (VAPT) before it is made available on the app store, he said.

"Apps are examined for data storage, safe communication, risky permissions, app logic, and safe authentication and authorisation. The developer receives the testing report, which can be used to improve the application from a security perspective. In this manner, the apps joining mSeva are conventionally preparing for the curtain raiser," Kamal explained.

However, Kamal has observed a certain "reluctance" in modifying apps to bridge identified vulnerabilities.

"Sometimes reluctance is observed in modifying the apps to bridge the vulnerabilities detected through security testing and the number of applications hosted is lesser than the applications received for hosting. But slowly developers have realised that it’s good to adapt secured application development for the long run," he added.