2. Introduction
In recent years, mobile technology has played the protagonist in India’s 21st
century tech-boom story. With 65% of total Internet traffic driven by mobile, the
population has become truly mobile-first. India’s Internet boom has sparked the
interest of tech giants Google and Facebook, whose initiatives hope to capture
some of that immense growth. But large companies are not the only ones betting on
India. Venture capital investments in India nearly doubled over the last year, from
$2.4 billion in 2014 to $4.6 billion in 2015.1
The country’s mobile growth presents an opportunity for app developers and
marketers from around the world. If India is not on an app developer’s radar, it
should be. In this report, we highlight India’s growth story, present an overview of
how Indian users are using mobile apps, and introduce action items to follow if you
are a developer or app marketer interested in expanding to the world’s
fastest-growing major economy.
2
3. Table of Contents
Introduction 2
India: An overview 4
India is the world’s second-largest smartphone market 5
Top apps in India
Top used app categories in India 6
WhatsApp is the top installed Communication app 7
Communication apps may be popular, but Tools have the most data usage 8
Facebook and Google compete for daily active users in India 9
A closer look at three categories: Games, Video and Music, and Utility 10
Interested in expanding to India? Action items to consider 11
About Jana and mCent 12
Sources 14
3
4. India: An overview
4
Smartphone users in India live all over the country. Each
dot on the map represents a smartphone user in India.
Analysis based on location of mCent users in India
2nd largest English-speaking
population
1.29 billion people2
Growing middle class with increased
spending power
App hungry
Fastest growing
major economy7
Young population
2nd largest population in
the world
Median age is 273
90%4
literacy rate among
youth (15-24 year olds)
Poverty in India shrank 15% between 2004 and 20135
130 million Indians speak English
3rd largest country for
downloads in 2015
within the Google Play
Store6
66 apps installed per
user, 23 apps used daily
7.3% GDP growth in 2015
Private consumption is 60%
5. With smartphone adoption in developed markets hitting a
plateau, India’s smartphone market is not showing signs of
slowing down. India is expected to overtake the United
States as the second-largest smartphone market in the
world by 2017.8
India's smartphone market is growing as
users adopt smartphones. By 2019, 39% of mobile users
will be on a smartphone, up from 26% in 2015.9
The leader of these smartphones in India? Android. Google
is the market leader among operating systems, with 90%10
market share in 2015. These devices are also getting more
powerful. One out of every three smartphones sold in India
are 4G enabled,11
and the 3G user base is growing at a
compound annual growth rate of 61% from 2013 to
2017.12
In India, many users are gaining smartphone access for the
first time with the availability of affordable devices.
5
India is the world’s second-largest
smartphone market
Micromax
15%
Lenovo
6%
Xiaomi
6%
Android brand market share in India
*Other includes HTC, Intex, Lava, Sony, Xolo, and more
Analysis based on a sampling of mCent users in January 2016
Samsung
31%
Motorola
5%
Other
38%
Thanks to competition from
local brands like Micromax,
Chinese brands like Xiaomi and
Lenovo, and many others that
make up 38% of the market,
Samsung faces competition in a
market that is hungry for more
options.
6. 6
Top used app categories in India
97%
of Indian users
use Communication
apps every day
53%
of Indian users
use Shopping
apps every day
34%
of Indian users
use News & Magazines
apps every day
30%
of Indian users
use Mobile games
apps every day
27%
of Indian users
use Music & Audio
apps every day
SOURCE: JANA
7. 7
1 Google apps*
2 WhatsApp Messenger
3 YouTube
4 MX Player
5 Facebook
6 SHAREit
7 UC Browser
8 Messenger
9 Flipkart
10 Hike Messenger
*Google apps (Google Play, Gmail, Maps, Google, Google+, Hangouts, Chrome Browser, and Google Drive) include pre-installed apps
Analysis based on a sampling of mCent users in December 2015
WhatsApp is the top installed
Communication app
Communication
40%
Social
7%
Media &
Video
13%
Tools
20%
Shopping
13%
Google
apps*
7%
Top apps in India
by installs
11 Truecaller
12 Dialer +
13 Xender
14 Clean Master
15 Amazon India Shopping
While Communication apps are installed on more devices than
any other category, WhatsApp is well ahead of the competition.
WhatsApp is installed on 96% of devices in India.
WhatsApp is installed on 1.7x more devices than Facebook
Messenger and 2.3x more devices than Hike.
Top categories
8. 8
Top apps in India
by data usage
1 SHAREit
2 Xender
3 YouTube
4 Facebook
5 UC Browser
6 WhatsApp Messenger
7 Chrome Browser
8 UC Browser Mini
9 Flipkart
10 Zapya
JANA.COM 6
11 Hotstar
12 Instagram
13 Google+
14 Facebook Messenger
15 MX Player
Data usage includes activity on both Wi-Fi and cellular data
Analysis based on a sampling of mCent users in December 2015
Media & Video
13%
Shopping
7%
Social
20%
Tools
20%
Communication
33%
Entertainment
7%
Communications apps may be popular,
but Tools have the most data usage
Tools help users share documents on the go and make smartphones
work faster and more efficiently. The three Tools in the list of top apps
by data usage are SHAREit, Xender, and Zapya.
As a mobile-first country, many users are leveraging smartphones as
their only computing device, which increases the demand for file
sharing apps like SHAREit.
Even though there are more Communication apps, Tools have 2.3x
more data usage than the Communication apps in the list combined.
Top categories
9. 9
1 WhatsApp Messenger
2 YouTube
3 Google
4 Facebook
5 Gmail
6 Messenger
7 UC Browser
8 Google+
9 SHAREit
10 Google Maps
11 MX Player
12 Chrome Browser
13 Hangouts
14 Hike Messenger
15 Truecaller
Top apps in India
by DAU
Analysis based on a sampling of mCent users in December 2015
Communication
54%
Tools
13%
Media & Video
13%
Facebook and Google compete for
daily active users in India
Social
13%
Travel &
Local
7%
Google and Facebook apps in the list have almost 3x more daily active
users (DAU) than the non-Facebook or Google apps (UC Browser,
SHAREit, MX Player, Hike, and Truecaller) combined.
Three out of the top five used apps as measured by DAU are Google
apps—Youtube, Google, and Gmail—while the other two are
Facebook—Facebook Android app and WhatsApp.
The only apps in the top 10 that are not Facebook or Google-owned
apps are UC Browser and SHAREit.
Top categories
10. 10
Video and Music*
66% of the top Music & Audio
apps in the list feature Indian
artists and local genres of music,
such as Saavn or Hungama.
The four localized music apps
have 1.3x more DAU than the
non-localized music apps—Sony
Music and Google Play Music—in
the list combined.
Youtube is the top video player in
India. The app has almost 2x more
DAU than MX Player.
1 YouTube
2 MX Player
3 Google Play Movies & TV
4 Google Play Music
5 Saavin Music & Radio
6 Wynk Music
7 Gaana
8 VivaVideo
9 Sony Music
10 Hungama Music
Top Video and Music
apps by DAU
Games
Freemium dominates: All
top 10 used games are free
to download and feature
in-app purchases.
The top used game, Clash of
Clans, has 1.6x more users
than number two Subway
Surfers.
Seven different categories
of mobile games appear in
the top 10. Arcade games
make up 30% of the list.
Three popular app categories in India are Games,
Video and Music (Media & Video and Music &
Audio), and Utility (Tools and Productivity). We
took a closer look at each category.
Top Games
apps by DAU
Utility*
80% of the top used Utility
apps in India are Tools.
Google is the top Utility
developer: Google’s Utility
apps have 1.2x more daily
active users than the seven
non-Google Utility apps in the
list combined.
50% of the Utility apps in the
list are designed to increase
security and protect devices
against viruses.
1 Clash of Clans
2 Subway Surfers
3 Teen Patti - Indian Poker
4 Candy Crush Soda Saga
5 Hill Climb Racing
6 Temple Run: Oz
7 8 Ball Pool
8 Temple Run 2
9 My Talking Tom
10 Piano Tiles 2
Top Utility
apps by DAU
A closer look at three
categories: Games,
Video and Music, and
Utility
1 Google
2 SHAREit
3 Xender
4 Clean Master
5 Google Drive
6 AppLock
7 360 Security
8 Google Calendar
9 CM Security Antivirus AppLock
10 LEO Privacy Guard
*Utility apps include Tools and
Productivity apps
*Video and Music apps include Media &
Video and Music & Audio apps
11. 11
India presents an exciting opportunity to reach an audience
that is mobile-first and growing at a rapid rate. As new users in
India are purchasing their first smartphones, the apps they
discover first will be the ones that capture their loyalty.
When thinking about your plan for India, keep in mind:
Interested in expanding to India?
Action items to consider
A growing mobile-first population
With 65% of Internet traffic driven by mobile and
more users getting access to 3G-enabled devices,
many people in India use their smartphone as their
computer. If you want to gain new users in India,
make sure to optimize your product for mobile first.
A young population with cash to spend
As the middle class grows in India, expect their
buying power to increase right along with it,
including spending in Shopping apps. In 2014,
41%13
of all Indians who purchased items online
used a mobile phone to do so, higher than in any
other country in the world. However, how they pay
for their purchases is much different than in other
markets. The credit card penetration rate is only
1.7%,14
so cash is still king when it comes to making
purchases. Consider including cash-on-delivery as a
payment method in your eCommerce app if
expanding to India.
Affordable devices make Android the OS
of choice in India
While Apple only offers one type of smartphone,
there are 1,300 brands15
of Android devices around
the world. The more diversity of devices running the
Android OS, the more choices, and ultimately, the
more affordable those choices are. In India, a user
can get a device for as low as $30.16
If you want to
attract new users in India, targeting Android users
will be your pass to success. But these affordable
devices may not be as powerful as their more
expensive counterparts, so be sure to optimize your
app to be lighter.
The popularity of Communication apps shows the value
of network effects
97% of smartphone users in India use a Communication app daily.
When looking at the top lists, one Communication app reigns
supreme: WhatsApp. The app has more installs and daily active users
than any other Communication app. Communication apps like
WhatsApp use network effects to grow their audience. When
thinking about increasing your app’s audience in India, consider
including referral mechanisms to utilize network effects and increase
word-of-mouth growth.
12. 12
Who is Jana and what is mCent?
85% of mobile subscribers in emerging markets are on
pay-as-you-go mobile plans. The cost of mobile data makes users
selective about downloading and trying new apps. Jana gives users
a risk-free introduction to your app, so that they become engaged,
loyal users.
Through Jana's mCent app, our members discover and try a world
of new apps without incurring any data charges. Thanks to our
partnerships with 311 mobile operators, Jana can reach millions of
smartphone users in India and around the world.
About Jana and mCent
13. 13
Our mission is to make the Internet
free for the next billion
Join the world’s most transformative brands
CONTACT US
14. Sources
1
(2015, November). Venture capital firms continue to step up India start-up investments. Retrieved from http://www.livemint.com.
2,5
(2016). The World Bank. Retrieved from http://data.worldbank.org.
3
(2015, November). India Becomes World’s Fastest Growing Economy: What Investors Need to Know. Retrieved from http://www.schwab.com.
4
Country profile: India. Retrieved from http://www.uis.unesco.org.
6
(2015). App Annie 2015 Retrospective—Monetization Opens New Frontiers. Retrieved from http://blog.appannie.com.
7
(2015, May). GDP at 7.3%: India’s economy has improved, but a wrong step could spoil things. Retrieved from http://www.firstpost.com.
8
(2015, June). Global Smartphone Sales Forecast by Operating System for 88 Countries: 2007 to 2020. Retrieved from https://www.strategyanalyt-
ics.com/.
9
(2016). Share of mobile phone users that use a smartphone in India from 2014 to 2019. Retrieved from http://www.statista.com.
10
(2015). IDC.
11
(2015, November). One Out of Three Smartphones Shipped in India in Q3 2015 Are 4G Enabled as the Country Prepares for Next-Generation Mobile
Technology, Says IDC. Retrieved from https://www.idc.com.
12
(2015, July). With 3rd largest smartphone market in the world, India to reach 314 million mobile internet users by 2017. Retrieved from http://yoursto-
ry.com.
13
(2015, May). India Tops The World For M-Commerce As Smartphones Drive Net Traffic. Retrieved from http://www.ibtimes.com.
14
(2013, May). Indian Credit Card Market Growing After Economic Slowdown. Retrieved from http://www.paymentsjournal.com.
15
(2015, August). Android fragmentation: There are now 24,000 devices from 1,300 brands. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com.
16
(2014, December). $30 smartphones are here—and they’re getting better every day. Retrieved from http://qz.com.
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