India has long been the world’s largest market for app downloads but a difficult environment for generating revenue. That dynamic is changing as consumers in India increasingly pay for AI, streaming and productivity apps.
According to a new report from Sensor Tower, India’s mobile app market reached a record $345 million in consumer spending during the second quarter (Q2) of this year, a 35% increase from the same quarter a year earlier. Sensor Tower said the gains were increasingly driven by generative artificial intelligence (AI), streaming services and productivity apps rather than gaming.
Key figures and trends
- Record Q2 consumer spending: $345 million, up 35% year-over-year.
- Quarterly downloads: roughly 6.3 billion per quarter since 2023.
- Revenue per download: more than doubled over the past three-and-a-half years.
Drivers of the shift
Eve Chen, an insights analyst at Sensor Tower, told TechCrunch that India is now a “rapidly evolving mobile market with a large user base and growing willingness to pay for digital services.” She attributed the shift to wider adoption of digital payments—particularly India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and digital wallets—which reduce friction for in-app purchases, along with broader acceptance of app-based subscriptions and premium digital services.
Global context and comparisons
Sensor Tower’s data show India posted the fastest growth among major app markets in Q2, generating more than $200 million in quarterly consumer spending. By comparison, Mexico grew 30% and Turkey 25% in the same period, while U.S. app revenue fell 3%.
Despite the strong growth, India still lags more mature markets on a per-download basis: revenue per download is about $4.60 in the U.S., $3.90 in South Korea and $6.10 in Japan—substantially higher than India’s figure. Sensor Tower emphasizes that the growth trajectory is more important than the current absolute level, and India’s improving monetization suggests substantial long-term upside.
Role of generative AI and subscriptions
Generative AI has become one of the fastest-growing segments: Sensor Tower’s data, shared with TechCrunch, shows OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude together accounted for nearly 83% of India’s AI app revenue in Q2. Non-gaming categories are also taking a larger share of revenue: Sensor Tower reports that non-gaming apps made up 68% of India’s mobile app revenue in the first half of 2026, up from 58% three years earlier.
Global subscription apps continue to benefit from rising Indian app spending. During the quarter, Google One became India’s highest-grossing mobile app. Streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video, Crunchyroll, Sony LIV and JioHotstar also saw increased consumer spending. Gaming diverged from the global trend by posting a 3.7% quarter-over-quarter revenue increase, even as gaming revenue fell worldwide.
Appfigures perspective
App intelligence firm Appfigures also sees ongoing growth in India’s app subscription market but says the pace has slowed after an AI-driven surge over the past two years. Ariel Michaeli, Appfigures’ founder and CEO, told TechCrunch that subscription revenue is still rising but the initial excitement around AI has cooled somewhat.
Appfigures estimates that ChatGPT generates roughly $60,000 per day in India and attracted about 1.8 million downloads over the past month, down from about $80,000 per day last October.
Why this matters
The data suggest India is moving beyond sheer download volume toward stronger monetization. Wider digital payment adoption and acceptance of subscription models are enabling developers and service providers to capture more value, while generative AI and streaming services have become central revenue drivers.
