"India became the world's largest market for generative AI app downloads in 2025, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, widening its lead over the U.S. as installs jumped 207% year-over-year. Companies including OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity rolled out extended free premium offers to accelerate user growth in the price sensitive market."
"Despite strong download growth, India still generates a disproportionately small share of AI app revenue, accounting for about 1% of in-app purchases even as it drives roughly 20% of global GenAI app downloads, according to the Sensor Tower data shared with TechCrunch, highlighting the monetization challenge in one of the industry's fastest-growing markets."
"Now, some of those early promotional pushes are winding down. Perplexity ended its bundled Pro offer with Indian telco Airtel in January, while OpenAI's free ChatGPT Go access in India is no longer available, potentially setting the stage for a clearer test of how many newly acquired users convert to paying subscribers."
India became the world's largest market for generative AI app downloads in 2025, with installs jumping 207% year-over-year and accounting for roughly 20% of global GenAI app downloads. Major AI companies including OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity offered extended free premium promotions to accelerate user growth in the price-sensitive market. However, India generates only about 1% of in-app purchase revenue despite its dominant download share, revealing a significant monetization challenge. Tech giants are now ending promotional offers, with Perplexity discontinuing its Airtel bundle and OpenAI removing free ChatGPT Go access, testing conversion rates to paid subscriptions. Revenue growth has stalled, with AI app in-app purchase revenue declining 22% and 18% in November and December 2025 respectively.
#ai-monetization #india-market #generative-ai-adoption #subscription-conversion #tech-industry-strategy
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