Mumbai: Women users are emerging as one of the strongest drivers of digital engagement in urban India, spending significantly more time than men across high-engagement categories such as entertainment, messaging and e-commerce/quick commerce, according to the India Digital Behaviour Report 2025-26 released jointly by VTION and Internet And Mobile Association of India.
Based on data collected from more than 100,000 consented smartphones representing over 407 million urban Indians, the report highlighted that women users consistently spend more time than men across most major digital categories, with the sharpest engagement gaps visible in commerce platforms.
According to the findings, urban women spend an average of 82.4 minutes per day on entertainment apps, with the 25–34 age-group recording the highest engagement at 86.3 minutes daily. In the e-commerce and quick commerce segment, women aged 25–34 in mega cities averaged 35.2 minutes per day, compared to 24.8 minutes for urban male users — indicating a 42% higher engagement level.
The report further observed that urban India’s digital ecosystem is increasingly being shaped by distinct behavioural patterns across demographics, geographies and income cohorts, spanning categories such as AI applications, payments, entertainment, commerce and social media.
One of the key findings of the report is the rapid rise of AI applications as a daily digital habit among urban users. AI apps recorded over 100% growth during April 2025 to March 2026, with users spending an average of 11.3 minutes per active day on AI applications. Adoption is currently concentrated among the 18–34 age group and higher-income urban households.
The report noted that conversational AI is beginning to influence how consumers discover brands and products online, with users increasingly turning to AI tools before opening traditional search engines or e-commerce platforms.
For the study, urban India was segmented into four geographic zones. The North zone included Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. The South zone comprised Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Puducherry. The East zone included West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam and the Northeast states, while the West zone covered Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa.
The report also found that the 18–24 age group remains the biggest driver of social media engagement in urban India, averaging 120 minutes per day compared to the overall category average of 97.9 minutes per day. Meanwhile, consumers aged 35 and above continue to anchor the entertainment category, spending approximately 77–78 minutes daily.
In the payments segment, the study revealed that engagement patterns remain largely consistent across income groups. Users across higher, middle and lower-income households demonstrated near-identical session depth trends, indicating that UPI-based payments have moved beyond the adoption phase and are now embedded into routine daily behaviour.
The India Digital Behaviour Report 2025-26 is based entirely on passive, privacy-compliant behavioural measurement sourced directly from active app usage data across VTION’s consented smartphone panel.
