A NEW SURVEY BY LUMIKAI, a venture capital firm focused on gaming and interactive media, shows that most Indians now pay for digital content, with gaming taking the largest share of wallet for payment amounts above Rs 1,000.
Lumikai founder and managing partner Salone Sehgal told PTI that the study surveyed around 3,000 mobile users across India between September 2024 and September 2025. The findings show that 80% of respondents use UPI for digital payments, and at least 40% maintain three to four active subscriptions. Sehgal said the trend indicates that India’s digital-first audience is young, data-driven and increasingly willing to pay for content.
“We did a deep dive into where people are spending that time and what is the attention share and how does it slice. of course, social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, YouTube are a very dominant part of that but I think what was more interesting was that gaming attention share stands at about 49%,” Sehgal said.
She added that over 46% of India’s interactive media consumers are women, more than two-thirds come from non-metro regions, and nearly 80% consume over 1 GB of mobile data daily. According to Lumikai’s annual report ‘Swipe Before Type’, India’s gaming ecosystem is being shaped by women (45% of gamers), non-metro users (60%) and increasing device diversity.
Addressing concerns about potential data overlap from children using parents’ phones, Sehgal clarified that all respondents in the survey were above 18.
The report also highlights that games take a 70% wallet share for digital purchases above Rs 1,000, indicating a stronger willingness to pay among gamers compared to consumers of other entertainment formats.
Among those surveyed, 50% said they paid for midcore games, 20% for casual games, 15% for real-money games which is now banned and 5% for hyper-casual titles. The study also notes that users spend around 10 hours a week on social platforms, largely to engage with friends, influencers and online communities, and that 33% of respondents regularly use astrology apps.
