The mobile app or simply an app was a life-changing concept that gave people the power to do many things on their smartphones or hand-held tablets. Now with advancements in technology, the world is moving towards something called a ‘Super App’, which helps people access different services at once.

What is a super app?

A super app is a one-stop portal or application that allows users to access numerous services in one place. In other words, it is a singular platform developed by a company that offers multiple services under one roof. It is the technological equivalent of a shopping mall.

The most popular super app in the market is China’s WeChat, which began by offering messaging services and then went to offer other services like payments, taxi bookings, online food ordering and shopping, thus transforming into a super app.

Super apps are typically developed and rolled out by companies that provide more than one product or service and use it as a tool to combine and merge under one umbrella.

Super apps in India

The super app market in India is crowded much like the retail space.

Variegated conglomerate ITC announced Wednesday that it will be launching its super app ITC MAARS with an aim to expand the horizons for farmers. MAARS, short for Meta market for Advanced Agriculture and Rural Services, is expected to provide modern solutions to farmers that will help in generating new streams for revenue while driving world-class Indian brands owned and run by ITC.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited has consolidated several of its offerings like communications, grocery shopping, cloud storage, shopping, ticket bookings, digital content streaming under the umbrella of Jio.

IPO-bound unicorn Paytm has also brought almost all of its services under its app and turned it into a super app. With the Paytm app, a user can access all the major services offered by the company ranging from recharge and digital payments to ticket booking and online shopping and even its banking and consumer finance services.

Another potential player in the Indian super app market is the one being built by the Tata Group. The salt-to-software conglomerate which is tagged as one of the most successful companies of the country is planning its foray into this space. The super app will offer different consumer businesses of Tata under one digital roof. Reports suggest that a pilot project could be rolled out next month.