India’s mobile app market just recorded its highest-grossing quarter ever, pulling in $345 million in consumer spending during Q2. That’s a 35% jump from last year, and it marks a turning point for a country long known as the world’s biggest app download market — and one of the worst for actually making money.
The shift is being powered by a wave of non-gaming subscriptions. Generative AI tools, streaming platforms, and productivity apps now account for 68% of India’s mobile revenue in the first half of 2026, up from 58% three years ago. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude alone command nearly 83% of India’s AI app revenue. Appfigures estimates ChatGPT still generates about $60,000 a day in India, even after cooling from roughly $80,000 daily last October.
“We would describe India today as a rapidly evolving mobile market with a large user base and growing willingness to pay for digital services,” Eve Chen, an insights analyst at Sensor Tower, told TechCrunch. Chen pointed to the widespread adoption of India’s Unified Payments Interface and digital wallets, which have stripped away the friction that once made in-app purchases a tough sell. Revenue per download has more than doubled over the past three and a half years, even as quarterly downloads have plateaued around 6.3 billion.
The growth also puts India ahead of every other major app market in terms of speed. While U.S. app revenue actually shrank 3% during the same period, India’s 35% surge outpaced Mexico’s 30% and Turkey’s 25%. No, India isn’t catching up to the $4.60-per-download revenue of the U.S. anytime soon. But the trajectory is what matters here. As Ariel Michaeli, CEO of Appfigures, put it: “The numbers are still staggering.”
