NEW DELHI: India’s AI-app race is getting more competitive. While ChatGPT continues to dominate user engagement and spending, Gemini is gaining ground and Claude is emerging as a fast-growing challenger, according to data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.Claude recorded the sharpest growth among major GenAI apps during the June quarter. Its downloads in India surged over 30-fold y-o-y to 8.5 million in Q2 2026, while consumer spending jumped nearly 19-fold to about Rs 62.2 crore. The rapid acceleration is significant, given Claude’s relatively small presence in India until recently.“Claude stands out with more consistent momentum, with downloads and monthly active users accelerating since early 2026, making it an increasingly notable player despite its smaller user base,” said Eve Chen, insights analyst at Sensor Tower.ChatGPT, however, remains far ahead on monetisation. Consumer spending on the app stood at around Rs 112.8 crore during Q2, up 36% from a year earlier. Grok generated about Rs 20.4 crore, followed by Perplexity at Rs 5.8 crore and Gemini at Rs 1.8 crore.Google’s Gemini is emerging as the stronger challenger on engagement. Downloads more than doubled to 18.1 million, while its share of time spent across GenAI apps climbed sharply to 18.7% from 4.9% a year earlier.
