“The App Store has been an economic miracle for developers in India and all around the world, and we’re thrilled to support their work,” says Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “This study underlines the power of India’s incredibly vibrant app economy. And we’re committed to keep investing in the success of developers of all sizes as they build apps that make an important impact and enrich people’s lives.”

The study led by Professor Viswanath Pingali breaks down the billing specifics — App Store’s India-based developers generated ₹38,906 crores ($4.65 billion) in total billings and sales from the sale of physical goods and services, ₹3,014 crores ($352.9 million) from in-app advertising, and ₹2,527 crores ($302 million) from digital goods and services.

“The App Store’s global platform offers India-based developers the opportunity to distribute their apps to over a billion customers worldwide across the App Store’s 175 storefronts. India-based developers have taken advantage of this opportunity, successfully reaching a global audience,” notes Professor Pingali, in the study.

As many as 87% of developers, clocked downloads from multiple storefronts (27 on average in 2024), and 43% of the 755 million app downloads came from users outside of India. As much as 79% of App Store earnings of India-based developers came from users outside of India. Apple says many apps from India-based developers have appeared on the most-downloaded app charts in storefronts outside of India, and apps from India-based developers were in the top 100 most-downloaded apps in 70 storefronts outside of India.

Some apps from India-based developers that are proving to be popular worldwide include Kiddopia (an app focused on developing basic language, motor, and social skills in preschoolers), LightX (an AI-powered photo and video editing app) and GameBerry Labs (developer of app-based classic board games, including Ludo STAR and Parchisi STAR). The study also notes Swiggy, Chaupal, Porter, Urban Company and Lumy as apps that have seen significant downloads.

Between 2019 and 2024, the Finance apps category has clocked an 11x growth for India-based app developers, followed by Health & Fitness a well as Lifestyle (7x each), Utilities (6x) and Games (5x). “Compared to five years ago, downloads from iOS users in India have more than tripled and earnings from users in India increased more than fivefold,” the report adds.

Apple’s push for India’s developer ecosystem

The Apple Developer Center in Bengaluru has been key to growing a developer and app ecosystem for the App Store. Apple engineers work with developers from across India, in an attempt to help then draw an advantage from focused tools, including 250,000 APIs (or Application Programming Interface, or a software interface between more than one app) that are part of frameworks such as HealthKit, Metal, and Core ML.

Apple says that between 2020 through 2023, various mechanisms in place helped prevent more than $7 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions. The App Store policies dictating privacy, security, and quality standards, also led to the rejection of more than 1.7 million app submissions. In previous years, Apple has thickened the data privacy layer for users. The addition of App Tracking Transparency in iOS, as well as the and Privacy Nutrition Labels for apps listed on the App Store, are some examples.

How is Google Play placed, in comparison?

The last time Google released Play ecosystem data for India was for 2023 (the antitrust investigations may be a reason for the lack of a 2024 data set). At the time, the tech giant insisted that the Google Play ecosystem in India had helped in generating ₹4,300 crore in revenue for Indian developers in 2023. India, was then the second-largest developer community on Google Play.

Google has since had to update its billing policies in India following a Competition Commission of India (CCI) investigation regarding anti-competitive practices. Early last year, Google enabled alternate billing methods for developers, which reduces the share of each sale they would otherwise have had to send Google’s way (for this method, it is now at 4%), if they’d remained on the Play billing system.

Apple too is facing similar anti-trust investigations, with the CCI having noted Apple late last year for using its dominant position to limit alternative options for developers, users, and third-party payment processing companies. This includes prohibiting third-party app stores that would compete with the App Store, on its devices, and mandatory use of in-app purchases with links with a fee for each transaction. Any final ruling is awaited. At this time, many developers including Netflix and Spotify, do not offer in-app payment for subscriptions, on iOS and Android.