India is starting to pay for apps, not just download them

India’s mobile app market hit a record $345 million in consumer spending in Q2, up 35% year over year.

Revenue is shifting away from gaming toward paid subscriptions for generative AI, entertainment, and productivity apps.

UPI, digital wallets, and broader acceptance of subscriptions are helping monetization rise, while downloads stayed around 6.3 billion per quarter.

ChatGPT and Claude captured most AI revenue, and services like Google One and streaming apps are seeing growing spend.