India helps drive Google Play revenue in 2015: Pichai

India's growing smartphone user base is contributing to Google's growth in revenues driven from apps, music and books on Google Play, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said.

"Google Play, our hub for digital content, continues to see great momentum. In 2015, spend per buyer in the Play Store grew by more than 30% globally compared to 2014. We had particularly strong growth in this area in countries like Brazil, India, Indonesia and Mexico, thanks to continued investments in payments capabilities," Pichai told investors after announcing fourth quarter results for Alphabet, the parent of Google.

India has over 220 million smartphones with over 100 million added in calender 2015, according to researcher CounterPoint Research.

Nine of 10 smartphones sold in India run on Google's Android platform, helping it sell more services to users, majority of whom are prepaid users. The increased adoption of 3G and 4G, including the impending launch of 4G services by Reliance Jio would increase the smartphone penetration in the country.

In August last, Google launched a service that allows app developers to allow apps to be sold to users in India for as low as Rs 10.

"India continues to be a major growth opportunity for developers to reach new users on Google Play. We've heard feedback from you - our global developer community - that you'd like more flexibility when choosing how much to charge for your apps and games in India," Google Product Manager (Google Play) Alistair Pott said in a blogpost in August last.