India's app market sees record consumer spending as users shell out for subscriptions
Consumer spending on mobile apps in India hit a record $345 million in Q2, up 35% year over year, driven by AI, streaming, and productivity apps. Analysts say the country is no longer just the world's biggest download market but also one of the fastest-growing for monetization.
For years, India has been the world's largest app download market but a challenging place for developers to generate revenue. That is now shifting, as Indian users increasingly pay for AI tools, streaming services, and other premium apps. According to Sensor Tower, consumer spending in India's mobile app market reached a record $345 million in the second quarter of this year, a 35% increase compared with the same period a year earlier.
The growth is being driven largely by non-gaming apps, including generative AI, streaming, and productivity categories. At the same time, revenue per download in India has more than doubled over the past three and a half years, while quarterly downloads have remained around 6.3 billion since 2023. Eve Chen, an insights analyst at Sensor Tower, described India as a rapidly evolving mobile market with a large user base and growing willingness to pay for digital services. She attributed the change to wider adoption of digital payments, including India's Unified Payments Interface and digital wallets, which have made in-app purchases easier.
India posted the fastest app revenue growth among major markets in Q2, generating more than $200 million in quarterly consumer spending. For comparison, Mexico grew 30%, Turkey 25%, while U.S. app revenue declined 3% over the same period. Although India still trails mature markets by a wide margin — revenue per download is about $4.60 in the U.S., $3.90 in South Korea, and $6.10 in Japan — analysts point to the trajectory as a sign of significant long-term potential.
Generative AI has become one of the fastest-growing segments, with ChatGPT and Claude together accounting for nearly 83% of India's AI app revenue in Q2. Non-gaming apps represented 68% of India's mobile app revenue in the first half of 2026, up from 58% three years earlier. Google One became India's highest-grossing mobile app during the quarter, while streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Crunchyroll, Sony LIV, and JioHotstar also saw rising consumer spending. Gaming bucked the global downturn, with revenue growing 3.7% quarter over quarter.
Appficures, another analytics firm, also sees continued growth in India's subscription market, though the pace has slowed after an AI-fueled surge. Its estimates show ChatGPT generating about $60,000 a day in India, with around 1.8 million downloads over the past month — down from roughly $80,000 a day last October.
