In your mobile app store, the dollar is still just Rs 55

Despite a sharp drop in rupee, playing games on your fancy tablet or mobile continues to remain cheap

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The dollar is hovering around Rs 67, but it still costs Rs 55 in popular mobile application stores like Apple's App Store and Google Play.

Hence, despite a sharp drop in the rupee, which has scuttled the foreign education plans of many students, playing games on your fancy tablet or mobile continues to be cheap.

The domestic currency has traded below 55 levels against the dollar since May 21 and last week touched an all-time low of Rs 68.82. However, 70 million smartphone users in India continue to enjoy these apps 20 per cent cheaper, as Apple and Google haven’t re-adjusted the prices yet.

Domestic app developers said the manually-adjusted conversion rate in app stores, which was fixed when the rupee traded at Rs 50 against a dollar, hasn't been changed as the fall in the domestic currency had been quite rapid and was yet to stabilise.

“Apple or Google might be observing the market to see where the currency settles before they revise the price of apps in their Indian stores,” said Alok Kejriwal, chief executive officer and co-founder of Games2win, one of India's top game developers.

An email query to Google and Apple remained unanswered.

Kejriwal, however, reckons the app developers aren't losing out much as India currently contributes to less than one per cent of the total revenues from these app stores, while the bulk of the revenues come from the US and the UK.

Currently, the market for Indian app developers is pegged at around $30-40 million, while globally, it was estimated to be $50 billion in 2012. The global app economy is forecasted to increase to $150 billion in the next five years.

However, a stronger dollar has spelled a boom for domestic game developers.

“The fall in the rupee isn't too much of a concern for app developers, as only a minuscule portion of their revenues come from this geography. However, this is the best time for Indian developers, whose realisations have gone up, thanks to the cheaper rupee,” said the India head of a US-based app developing firm, on the question of autonomy.

“Most of the revenues for app developers come from the US, so it's a great time for us. We would be happier if the rupee falls to 90 against the dollar,” said Kejriwal.

Purchases of mobile apps in India are set to see exponential growth, with smartphones becoming ubiquitous. More and more domestic firms are venturing into this space, while leading global game developers like Zygna are expanding operations in India. Also, giants like Apple are turning their focus towards markets like India by launching a dedicated app store which sells country-specific content.

In October last year, Apple launched India App, a store which featured local movies and songs and the  pricing of which was in rupees. Until then, the app pricing in the App Store was dollar-denominated and consumers had to pay extra foreign currency mark up charges to banks for making purchases.