Free recharge, the new mantra by apps

It’s not just Facebook which is offering free access to select mobile apps without paying for data usage.

A number of applications have come up with a proposition that is letting crores of users in India to not only access any website or app for free but even make calls or recharge their DTH account without spending anything.

The idea has been so successful that these data and call sponsoring apps are all self-funded, profitable and are not even looking for a venture capitalist to raise more money.

After downloading, the users can browse through offers from other mobile apps that are willing pay users to start using their product. The advertiser pays the company if the user downloads their app and more money if the app is used for more than a week.

The user gets paid anywhere between ₹5-50 for installing and using the promoted apps. The advertiser gets to promote his app, while the user gets to access more apps for free.

For example, New Delhi-based start-up RationalHeads Technologies, has given out ₹50 crore worth of vouchers to users of its app Earn Talktime, for just installing and accessing some mobile apps such as those from Flipkart, Amazon and Infibeam.

The company’s Chief Executive, Sandeep Mirakhur, an ex-Airtel executive, says the biggest roadblock towards app usage in India is the cost of mobile Internet.

“We thought if we could eliminate this roadblock by offering people free data; adoption will happen,” Mirakhur said.

The strategy has worked brilliantly so far. The company has earned ₹100 crore in the last 18 months of kick-starting with 40 per cent profitability. It already has 13 million users on its platform and expects to grow at about 60 per cent year-on-year for the next few years. And all this, without raising any external funds.

A similar story is echoed by Chennai-based app called Ladooo. The funny-sounding app has nine million users and given out more than ₹12 crore as refunds to its users. The company had only 1.3 million users in January. “Free data is like free petrol,” said Raja Hussain, CEO, AirLoyal, the company that owns Ladooo.

“The more fuel you give them, the more they'll drive around and need more. This keeps users using more apps and coming back to our platform,” he said.

Ladooo has partnered with over 450 companies since January 2014 to act as an alternative to advertising. Hussain decided to start the app as a means to promote some of his other apps but it turned into a large business opportunity in itself. Mavin, a Bengaluru--based start-up, began when executives from Google and Microsoft decided to leave their lucrative jobs and solve the app usage problem in India and launch an app called Gigato.

It’s co-founder, Shailesh Nalawadi, who worked as a product manager at Google Maps, “We believe there is a $2.5 billion opportunity to provide connectivity to smartphones that currently have data disabled.”

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