Now pay in rupees for Android apps bought via Google Play

There's more good news for Android users in India. After announcing that Indian developers can now start charging for apps, Google took time out in the same blog post to confirm that Indian users can soon start paying for apps and in-app purchases in rupees.

Along with seller support, we're also adding buyer's currency support for India. We encourage developers everywhere to visit your Developer Console as soon as possible to set prices for your products in Indian Rupees and other new currencies (such as Russian Rubles).

As of date, Indian users have to pay for Android apps in seller's currency, since rupee is not available as a buyer's currency (the INR amount shown in the store is just indicative). This means that while making the purchase, users typically do not know the exact amount they'll be billed, as it dependant on the prevalent exchange rate and other bank charges. With rupee available as a buyer currency, the purchase will be completely transparent as far as the amount billed is concerned.

App developers have an option to set a price for their app in each of the 20 buyer's currency that Google Play now supports across 29 countries. With India/ INR included in that list, Indian users can hope to enjoy some region-specific pricing. For example, while an App may be priced $9.99 in the US Play Store, the developer may choose to price at Rs. 99 only in the Indian store, thus offering considerable discount to Indian buyers. There are multiple instances of such discounts being offered in specific markets in the past. With India and Russia getting added to the list, we expect such instances to increase further.

Developers have been advised to set INR and RUB prices of their apps by October 25th, which indicates Google might introduce INR pricing in Play Store from the 26th. If developers fail to set the price before the deadline, Google will automatically assign the INR and RUB prices based on the exchange rates.