India pips US in Android app downloads

India has around 355 million internet users, second only to China, says a report

The increase in smartphone penetration and a sharp fall in mobile data rates allowed India to overtake the US in app downloads from Google Play Store in 2016.

Mary Meeker’s 2017 Internet Trends Report released on Wednesday says India last year saw over six billion app downloads from Google Play Store, which is the primary medium for installing apps on Android devices. The US was the only other country to cross six billion app downloads, just behind India.

The report, which quoted App Annie, shows that India was close to the four billion app downloads mark in 2015 but saw