It looks like Google has finally answered the Indian developer community’s greatest problem so far. It has included India in an updated list of countries that can register to be Google checkout merchants. This means Indian app developers and app development companies can now sell paid applications on the Google Play Store.
For the longest time, Android App developers have resorted to opening accounts in countries that supported this service so as to enable app sales on the Google PlayStore. With this announcement, Android app developers and app development companies do not have to go through the trouble of opening company subsidiaries in other countries with merchant license privileges. App startups will benefit greatly from this.
“We have been waiting for the longest time for this. Google said that they were in talks with the regulatory authorities to enable paid app sales in India. 
But its great that we have it now. Its going to save us a lot of money,” said an Android developer from India.
Google hasn’t made an official announcement yet, and the service isn’t working as of now. But the list did not have India until today. Every other platform, including Windows, iOS and BlackBerry, allowed Indian developers to sell apps from an Indian account. Some developers speculate that Google didn’t think of the Indian app ecosystem to be compelling enough for app purchases. With that in mind, this announcement could be sign of coming of age for the Indian app ecosystem.
Watch this space for more updates on the Google checkout merchant license for India.