In 2025, India emerged as a significant market for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) applications, accounting for 16% of the total 3.8 billion global downloads, according to a Sensor Tower report. Indian users downloaded approximately 0.6 billion GenAI apps last year, marking a remarkable 204% increase from the previous year. This surge highlights India’s rapidly growing adoption of AI technologies, particularly generative AI assistants and content generators. Despite this high volume of downloads, India’s contribution to global in-app purchase (IAP) revenues from AI apps remains minimal, constituting less than 1% of the worldwide total, which stood at around $5 billion in 2025. Indian users also dedicated significant time to these apps, spending about 6 billion hours in total, which is 12.6% of the global time spent on GenAI apps.
The domestic app industry in India has seen growth, with a rising share of downloads from local developers. Popular GenAI apps such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok led downloads in the country. Additionally, the increase in app usage was complemented by a broader boost in India’s app market in 2025, fueled also by trends like short-form microdrama platforms, which outpaced traditional OTT streaming apps in downloads. This data underlines India’s expanding influence as a major consumer base for AI innovations, even as monetization lags behind adoption.
