At 26, son of MP farmer is creator of 13 apps with international downloaders

From a relatively unknown locality in Hoshangabad of Madhya Pradesh, a 26-year-old son of a farmer has made his way into the international arena with his 13 Android apps, now earning a lakh per month.

Hemant Mehra, from Gwaltoli, has studied only till Class 10, but his apps have takers in the US, South Africa, France, Israel and other countries.

The most popular one is the ‘Lovers in a Spin’, which has been downloaded more than 500 times, mostly by Americans, 46%, followed by ‘Penguin Shooting’, which is more popular in the Middle East and Indonesia.

Talking to HT, Hemant recalled how he had to quit studies as his parents were not able to fund it. Having no interest in farming, he took to technology and was inspired to develop apps after reading an interview of an app developer in a newspaper in 2013.

Breaking into tears, he said he was even mocked at and insulted when he shared his ideas with people about developing the apps.

“Many even told me on my face that this is the work of IT engineers and computer experts. I had no money to take any kind of training for this. So I bought books, researched on internet and kept experimenting myself,” he said.

“Now, the same people treat me with respect because they see that I have accomplished something, despite not being a graduate. It is sad that our country largely judge people based on their educational qualifications,” he said.

RK Pateria, head of the computer science department at Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal, said it was unusual for a person without any practice or study of computer coding, he has developed so many different kinds of apps.

“It is good thing that people are learning on their own and following their passions,” Pateria remarked.

Hemant’s 13 apps include 8 games, a news app, a shopping app for clothes, a neurotherapy app, an astrology app and a messenger app called ‘Mappi’, which can be used for both chatting and file sharing, even without internet.

Available on Google Play store, these have takers from Poland, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Mexico and Germany too.

Having a monthly turnover of around Rs 1 lakh from advertisements on his apps, Hemant is currently working on his dream project, ‘Apna MP’ which will serve as a business to customer platform for various users.

Hemant, who has been developing apps alone till now, plans to provide employment to more than 50 people in the state.