For many years, India held the title of the largest app download market globally but was also one of the hardest regions for monetization. This is starting to evolve as consumers in India increase their spending on AI, entertainment, and other high-end applications.

In the second quarter of this year, India’s mobile app industry reached an unprecedented $345 million in consumer expenditures, marking a 35% rise compared to the previous year, as indicated by a recent report from Sensor Tower. The app-market analysis firm highlighted that the growth is being fueled more by generative AI, streaming, and productivity applications rather than gaming, with Indian users showing a greater readiness to invest in digital subscriptions.

This record-setting quarter reinforces a larger trend of enhanced app monetization. Over the last three and a half years, India’s revenue per download has more than doubled, while the quarterly app downloads have stabilized at approximately 6.3 billion since 2023.

“We would characterize India as a swiftly progressing mobile market today, with a significant user base and an increasing willingness to pay for digital services,” stated Eve Chen, an insights analyst at Sensor Tower, in an interview with TechCrunch.

Chen attributed this shift to the broader acceptance of digital payments, including India’s Unified Payments Interface (which allows users to make payments directly from their bank accounts) and digital wallets, which have minimized the barriers to in-app purchases, combined with a growing acceptance of app-based subscriptions and premium digital offerings.

This trend is also notable on a global scale. According to the data shared with TechCrunch by Sensor Tower, India’s app revenue experienced the most rapid growth in Q2 among major app markets, generating over $200 million in quarterly consumer spending. In comparison, Mexico saw a growth of 30% and Turkey 25%, while U.S. app revenue actually fell by 3% during the same timeframe.

“These statistics indicate that India is transitioning from merely being the largest market by downloads to also becoming one of the fastest-growing markets for app monetization,” Chen remarked to TechCrunch.

However, India still lags considerably behind more established app markets. Revenue per download is around $4.60 in the U.S., $3.90 in South Korea, and $6.10 in Japan, compared to a much lower figure in India. Still, Chen emphasized that the growth trajectory is more significant than the absolute figures, as India’s continuously improving monetization indicates ample potential for long-term development.

Generative AI has surfaced as one of the quickest-growing segments, with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude together securing nearly 83% of India’s AI app revenue in Q2, based on the data from Sensor Tower shared with TechCrunch.

A substantial portion of India’s growth in app revenue is also being propelled by non-gaming applications. According to Sensor Tower, non-gaming categories represented 68% of India’s mobile app revenue in the first half of 2026, up from 58% three years prior.

Recent data also indicates that global subscription apps remain among the primary beneficiaries of the increasing app spending in India, with Google One emerging as the highest-grossing mobile app in the country during this quarter. Streaming services like Amazon Prime Video, Crunchyroll, Sony LIV, and JioHotstar have also experienced a rise in consumer spending. Despite a global downturn, gaming saw a 3.7% revenue increase from the previous quarter, according to Sensor Tower.

The app intelligence company Appfigures also anticipates the Indian app subscription market will keep expanding, although it notes that the pace has decelerated following an AI-induced surge in the last two years. Subscription earnings continue to rise, though much of the initial enthusiasm surrounding AI has faded, as noted by Ariel Michaeli, the company’s founder and CEO, in a discussion with TechCrunch.

“The figures are still impressive,” Michaeli remarked. Appfigures estimates that ChatGPT brings in around $60,000 daily in India and secured approximately 1.8 million downloads over the past month, despite a decrease from about $80,000 a day last October.