India becomes world's fourth-largest app economy, says report

A report from mobile-app analytics company App Annie has placed India at the fourth rank when it comes to largest app economies, while adding that Indians have also rapidly increased the amount of time spent on apps.

When it comes to the number of total app downloads per year, India is behind only China, US, and Brazil, with the number set to grow by 92% and reach 7.7 billion downloads by the end of this year. This number would further reach 20.1 billion by 2020.

In comparison, China, which is ahead of India, has a slower growth rate expected this year; however, the absolute figure would still be more than six times more than that of India.

"With the introduction of affordable smartphones and better infrastructure supporting mobile, and given India's population, the growth here is expected to be significant," Junde Yu, MD of App Annie APAC, told TNN. He added that the most important thing driving the app economy as of now is not the number of downloads or the revenue; rather, it is the amount of time users spend on these apps.

The amount of time spent by Indians on apps in the first quarter of 2016 grew more than twice when compared from the first quarter of 2014. While retail apps saw the time spent growing by 11.5 times during the same period, video-streaming apps saw it growing 7.4 times.

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