India has long been the world’s largest app download market but one of the hardest places to monetize. That is changing. According to Sensor Tower, India’s mobile app market generated a record $345 million in consumer spending during Q2 2025, up 35% year-over-year. The growth is increasingly driven by generative AI, streaming, and productivity apps rather than gaming, as Indian consumers become more willing to pay for digital subscriptions.

Revenue per download has more than doubled over the past three and a half years, while quarterly downloads have stabilized at around 6.3 billion since 2023. Eve Chen, an insights analyst at Sensor Tower, attributed the shift to wider adoption of digital payments—especially India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and digital wallets—which have reduced friction for in-app purchases and made subscription models more viable.

Among major app markets, India saw the fastest Q2 revenue growth globally. Mexico grew 30% and Turkey 25%, while U.S. app revenue actually declined 3% over the same period. Chen noted that India is emerging not just as the largest download market but also as one of the fastest-growing markets for app monetization. Still, absolute revenue per download remains low: about $4.60 in the U.S., $3.90 in South Korea, and $6.10 in Japan, compared to a small fraction in India. Chen stressed that the trajectory matters more than the absolute level.

Generative AI is a leading segment. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude together accounted for nearly 83% of India’s AI app revenue in Q2. Non-gaming apps drove 68% of total app revenue in the first half of 2025, up from 58% three years earlier. Subscription services like Google One (India’s highest-grossing mobile app), Amazon Prime Video, Crunchyroll, Sony LIV, and JioHotstar all saw rising spending. Gaming revenue bucked global trends by rising 3.7% quarter-over-quarter despite a worldwide decline.

Appfigures, another app intelligence firm, confirmed the growth trend but noted a slowing pace after an AI-fueled surge. CEO Ariel Michaeli said ChatGPT generates about $60,000 a day in India with around 1.8 million downloads in the past month, a decline from roughly $80,000 a day last October. He called the numbers still staggering, suggesting the market remains strong even as initial AI excitement moderates.