New Delhi, Dec 7 (IANS): Telegram Founder and CEO Pavel Durov on Wednesday said that the paid Telegram Premium, which we introduced just five months ago, has surpassed 1 million subscribers.

Telegram in October reduced the subscription cost of its premium tier in India from Rs 469 to Rs 179.

Globally, the premium subscription is priced in the range of $4.99 to $6.

"While it still represents just a fraction of Telegram's overall revenue, Telegram Premium is growing steadily every day, and one day may even rival our ads," said Durov.

Telegram has over 700 million monthly active users globally and has more than 120 million users in India, according to reports.

Durov said that their ads have significantly outperformed the market and put Telegram on a steady path towards financial sustainability.

"The future looks exciting. The additional monetisation strategies I discussed in my previous posts are already bearing fruit, and the features we are working on now will set the foundation for further financial growth for Telegram in 2023," he mentioned.

"While some other apps consider their users a tool to maximise revenue, we consider revenue a tool to maximise value for our users," he noted.

Telegram's next step is to build a set of decentralised tools, including non-custodial wallets and decentralised exchanges for millions of people to securely trade and store cryptocurrencies.

"We, developers, should steer the blockchain industry away from centralisation by building fast and easy-to-use decentralised applications for the masses. Such projects are finally feasible today," the Telegram CEO said earlier this month.