Google Play Direct Carrier Billing now official in India

Earlier we had reported that Google was testing carrier billing in India for Idea customers, now the company has confirmed that DCB (Direct Carrier Billing) is now available in India.

At present only Idea customers will be able to pay for apps, games, movies from the Play Store with their Idea Cellular account without the need for any credit or debit card. The charges will show up on your monthly phone bill.

Kunal Soni, Head of Business Development for Google Play in India and Southeast Asia added:

This collaboration with Idea Cellular is the first time Google Play has offered direct carrier billing in India. Like with lower minimal pricing and pre-paid vouchers, we hope to make it easier for people to pay for the content they want on Google Play. And we also hope that this will help nurture the developer ecosystem in India, so that developers can grow their businesses on Google Play connecting to Indian customers.

We would like more carriers to be added soon alongwith prepaid customers getting the option to use Google Play DCB as it is simply easier to use especially in India where people still don't have access to credit or debit cards, but do use a smartphone. This move may even curb piracy to an extent and reduce Android malware which is generally present if apps are downloaded from unknown sources.

Source: Google India