Netflix has announced a Rs 199 per month plan for India which will work only on smartphones or tablets. (Image source: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)Netflix has announced a new ‘Made in India’ plan at Rs 199 per month. The plan is only for mobiles, tablet users in India. It was previously reported that Netflix was testing India-specific plans at lower prices as it seeks to increase subscriber base in one of the biggest internet and smartphone markets in the world. In its recent earnings report, Netflix had reported a drop in subscriber base in the US.
Netflix revealed that the mobile-only plan for India has been in the making for a long time. The Rs 199 plan will be live in India today, and this is the only market where the company is launching the plan.
Netflix will give users options to upgrade the mobile-only plan to their basic plans or higher plans later on. Netflix says the smartphone/tablet only plan does support offline downloads.
What is Netflix ‘Made in India’ Rs 199 plan?
The Netflix Rs 199 per month plan will work only on smartphones and mobiles. Previously it was reported that this plan would start at Rs 250 per month.
What this means is that if you are subscribed only to this plan for Netflix, you will not be able to access the content on your desktop, PC or smart TV or Amazon Fire TV Stick. Further, the Netflix Rs 199 plan will only have SD or standard definition content at 480p resolution.
It does not support HD or 720p or higher resolution content. The plan will not support casting to other devices, so you will not be able to stream to your TV via Google Chromecast. The plan will support only one concurrent stream per account.
The base Netflix plan in India used to start at Rs 499 per month, which made Netflix one of the most expensive streaming services in India. With this new plan, Netflix will try to compete with Amazon Prime Video, which starts at Rs 999 per year or Rs 129 per month and Hotstar, which starts at Rs 999 per year or Rs 299 per month.
How to sign up for Netflix Rs 199 per month plan?
Here’s how to sign up for the mobile plan.
First, download the Netflix app or visit the website http://www.netflix.com.
Then select the mobile plan for Rs 199 per month. After adding account details and choosing the Rs 199 plan, you will get the first month for free (for new members). After that you can continue with the plan, and it will be charged to your credit or debit card.
Why is Netflix launching this Rs 199 plan?
The mobile-only plan will give Netflix an opportunity to expand in tier-2 and tier-3 cities of India. The idea is to broaden the access of Netflix across India. The base plans of Netflix earlier started at Rs 499, Rs 649 and Rs 799 per month making it an extremely expensive streaming service. Netflix gives the first month free on the service.
