The surge in smartphone usage in India has also resulted in a sharp increase in mobile app downloads by Indians. In 2022, Indian users downloaded over 28 Bn apps on their phones, accounting for 5% of the 625 Bn global downloads, according to a report by analytics firm Data.ai, formerly known as App Annie.

As per the report, India was ranked second, behind China, in terms of overall app downloads during the year.

However, India ranked eighth on the global chart in terms of time spent on mobile phones, with average usage per day per consumer of 4.9 hours.

In terms of average usage per day, India was in sixth place with Australia and Mexico, behind Indonesia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and South Korea, all of which had an average usage of over 5 hours or more per day.

India ranked second in terms of total hours spent on mobile apps, with Indians spending 0.74 Tn hours overall in 2022.

Highlighting the increasing penetration of ecommerce in the country over the last few years, Indians spent more time on online shopping apps in 2022. Out of the 110 Bn hours spent globally on online shopping apps during the year, Indians spent 8.7 Bn hours. With a 16% growth over 2021, India remained in the second position, behind China.

Interestingly, Meesho, Flipkart and Tata Neu were the top five breakout online shopping apps in terms of downloads across the world. In terms of monthly average users (MAU), Meesho was the top app worldwide in 2022, with Flipkart being the other Indian app in the top 10.

In the finance category, PhonePe, Paytm, Bajaj Finserv, and YONO SBI made it to the list of top 10 downloaded apps globally.

According to Inc42’s ‘Indian Tech Startup Funding Report 2022’, India is set to have more than 1.3 Bn internet users by 2030, with Indians spending 4.7 hours per day per user on mobile.