India is the second largest smartphone market in the world in terms of active users, and has been experiencing major growth in mobile apps due to increasing smartphone usage and greater affordability.
India's transition to a mobile economy accelerated with the pandemic, moving millions to digital transactions and other app categories. Social media has seen massive growth in the country, with Meta focusing its efforts on bringing the next few hundred million online.
The country has focused on homegrown talents, similar to China, even banning several Chinese apps to prevent foreign operators from holding significant market share. Apps like PhonePe, Zomato, Flipkart and JioCinema have received help from the Indian government.
The Broadband India Forum has predicted that the app economy could be worth around 12 percent of India's GDP by 2030, presuming the market's expansion continues at four times the rate of the country's wider economic growth.
Mobile gaming is one of the most popular sectors of the app market in India, with over 300 million gamers. This is estimated to grow by as much as 30 percent annually as smartphone access widens and network capacities expand. However, this could be impacted by the Indian government's sanctions of Chinese mobile games over security concerns.
Overall, the future of the Indian market appears strong, with increased investment and new innovations. The country has seen a rapid deployment of 5G connectivity, financed by multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries, which also operates Jio and JioCinema.
We have collected data and statistics on the Indian mobile app market. Read on below to find out more.
Key India App Market Statistics
- The Indian app market earned $3.8 billion revenue in 2024, a 15.1% increase on the year prior
- Indian's spent on average less than $5 annually on apps
- There were 783 million smartphone users in India, making it the second largest country for usage
- Free Fire Max was the top grossing app for another year in India, generating over $100 million
- Over 25 billion apps were downloaded in India, but that has declined over the past two years
- The average Indian smartphone users downloaded 31 apps in 2024
- Instagram was the most installed app in India in 2024, ahead of Facebook and Meesho
- Indians spent 6 hours 49 minutes on the internet in 2024, a slight increase on the previous year
- Over 60% of all internet consumption was performed on mobile in India
- India's average cellular speed surpassed 100Mbps in 2024, a year after its extensive 5G rollout
