Apple’s App Store ecosystem in India records over Rs 44K-cr billings in 2024

Apple’s App Store ecosystem in India facilitated Rs 44,447 crore (around $5.31 billion) in billings and sales in 2024, shows a new study.

It further showed that more than 94% of the billings accrued solely to developers and businesses of all sizes, without any commission paid to Apple.

The study was carried out by professor Viswanath Pingali from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and released by the iPhone maker.

The global earnings of India-based developers have tripled over the past years, according to the findings. The study also found that the sale of physical goods and services contributed Rs 38,906 crore to the billings, followed by in-app advertising (Rs 3,014 crore) and digital goods and services (Rs 2, 527 crore).

‘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,” Apple chief executive Tim Cook said. “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 sale of physical goods and services refers to the business generated for e-commerce and quick commerce apps like Nykaa, Blinkit, etc, while billings from digital goods and services refers to in-app purchases users make; for example, in-app purchases in a game.

Within the sale of physical goods and services, general retail (39%) commanded the lion’s share, followed by travel (26%), food delivery and pick-up (9%), grocery (7%), and ride-hailing (6%).

In 2024, close to 80% of India-based developers’ App Store earnings came from users outside the country, and 87% of developers were active on multiple storefronts. Storefronts refer to the version of the App Store accessible to customers basis their country/region. So, users in India will have access to the App Store India storefront. Apps by Indian developers were available in 175 storefronts in 2024, according to Pingali’s study.

The top five categories by earnings growth for India-based developers in between 2019 and 2024 were finance, health and fitness, lifestyle, utilities, and games.

In 2024, App Store downloads of apps by developers from India doubled from five years back to 755 million times. Apps from India-based developers were in the top 100 most-downloaded apps in 70 storefronts outside of India.

The total App Store earnings of small developers increased by 74% between 2021 and 2024, the study said, driven by initiatives like the App Store Small Business Program which provides reduced commission rate.

Additionally, Apple prevented over $7 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions between 2020 and 2023, with more than $1.8 billion prevented in 2023, industry data suggests. The App Store also rejected more than 1.7 million app submissions for failing to meet privacy, security, and quality standards.