Indians around the world use many Android apps either to stay in touch with what’s happening in India, or to take care of personal matters like banking, messaging, phone calls and so on.
The Global Indian profiles some of these best Android apps for Indians living abroad.
Music
Saavn: This is by far the most popular and most entertaining music app for both Android and iOS. The music is free and includes not just latest Bollywood music, but also provides access to a collection of Indian regional, and even English music. The most popular feature is the staff-curated playlists for various genres.
From the newest songs to hard-to-find classics, Saavn’s catalog provides songs in Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Gujarati, Malayalam, and Bhojpuri.
Travel
MakeMyTrip: Planning to book tickets for domestic travel by air or train? Use MakeMy trip app to compare fares and timings of trains and flights. It even offers options to book hotels, but you would be better off contacting hotels directly for bookings.
iXigo Trains: While Indian Railways‘ official IRCTC website is notorious for slow speed and downtime, this iXigo web app works much better. While this is not the official IRCTC app, it helps you find train tickets, find PNR status, and get accurate train running information. There are no ads in the app. It even lets you find budget hotels in most Indian cities, classify them by area, get the best hotel deals and call hotels for free and book online! The makers of this app have even gone a step further – the app can scans your SMS for PNRs and provide PNR status change updates and delay notifications.
AskLaila: If you are looking phone numbers and addresses of local businesses, you can download AskLaila app for Android phones.
Culture
Indian festivals and holidays: Planning a visit to India and not too sure when the holidays and festivals are? Use this app for a list of all the major Indian festivals and holidays.
Features:
1. Instantly know which holidays fall on which dates.
2. Short 4 line description of each holiday.
3. Link to Wikipedia article for the selected holiday for further reading
Download
Salah Timings: This Android app provides Islamic prayer timings (Salat), and shows you the direction to Mecca from anywhere in the world. For devout Muslims, it’s a handy tool for religious observance.
Shopping
Now NRIs can send gifts to India with a click of a button, thanks to many mobile apps developed by leading online shopping sites like Flipkart, Amazon and eBay. With growing competition among these online shopping sites, the prices are highly competitive. Some of these apps also show bargains and special offers.
Flipkart: Flipkart is by far the most popular shopping website for India and offers a range of products from apparel to books, kitchen appliances and much more.
Download
Amazon: Now shop on Amazon.in via Amazon global shopping application
Download
eBay: eBay is not yet big in India but in case you like something on eBay, you can use this app which provides listings on eBay.in too.
Snapdeal: Snapdeal is not as big as leading shopping portals, but offers good customer experience and a range of products. Use this official app to shop on Snapdeal.
Sports
Indians’ love for cricket is legendary. It is no wonder that some of the cricket apps for Android are very popular among Indians. However, football and other games are also gaining popularity with Indian audience. Here’s our round-up of popular sport apps for Android.
Sports schedules including FIFA World Cup: The month-long 2014 FIFA World Cup action begins on 12 June. Catch every match with this football app for the 2014 Football World Cup – get game results on-the-go!
This app provides mobile guide to match schedules, standings, and venues. As the competition unfolds, the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final match-ups will be revealed.
CricketNext Live: This is a very popular Android app for live cricket score and other updates.
Cricbuzz: Crickbuzz offers scores of popular cricket matches.
ESPNCricInfo: With comprehensive access to popular cricket matches, ESPNCricInfo has put some of the best information about cricket into this official mobile app.
News
Stay in touch with the latest news about India and Indians with some of the best mobile apps developed my Indian news media.
NDTV: You can watch news videos and live news updates from NDTV on this Android mobile app.
Download
IBNLive for Android: This mobile app for CNN-IBN offers live news from one of the popular news channels from India.
MSN India News: For some unbiased news about India, tune in to MSN India news which is owned by Yahoo!
Download
Times of India: Official Android application of the popular Indian daily.
Download
Banking and finance
Many NRIs have accounts in India and would find it easier to keep track of their banking transactions with an Android app. Many of these apps let you complete netbanking transactions like paying utility bills, paying a relative in India, renew fixed deposits and request account statements.
You can also download applications for monitoring your stock market investments.
iMobile: Transact with your ICICI Bank account with this mobile app for Android users.
Download
State Bank Freedom: Whether you have your PF with State Bank or your fixed deposits, you can access your details with this official mobile app for State Bank of India customers.
Citibank: Many customers of Citibank have accounts in India. You can access your account with this application developed by Citibank.
Standard Chartered Bank: This app lets you complete Netbanking transactions in your StanChart account with the click of a button.
ICICI Stock Watch: Use this app to get updates on various equity stocks trading on leading Indain exchanges including BSE and NSE.
Download
Moneycontrol Markets: This Adroid application provides updates on not just Indian but also global equities markets in real-time. A must-have app for serious stock investors.
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