Google’s Nano Banana image-generation mannequin, formally referred to as Gemini 2.5 Flash Picture, has fueled world momentum for the Gemini app since launching final month. However in India, it has taken on a inventive lifetime of its personal, with retro portraits and native developments going viral — whilst privateness and security considerations start to emerge.
India has emerged because the No. 1 nation when it comes to Nano Banana utilization, in response to David Sharon, multimodal technology lead for Gemini Apps at Google DeepMind, who spoke at a media session this week. The mannequin’s recognition has additionally propelled the Gemini app to the highest of the free app charts on each the App Retailer and Google Play in India. The app has additionally climbed to the highest of worldwide app shops’ charts, in response to Appfigures.
Given India’s scale — the world’s second-largest smartphone market and second-biggest on-line inhabitants after China — it’s no shock the nation is main in adoption. However what’s catching Google’s consideration is not only how many individuals are utilizing Nano Banana, it’s how: Thousands and thousands of Indians are partaking with the AI mannequin in methods which can be uniquely native, extremely inventive, and in some circumstances, utterly sudden.
One of many standout developments is Indians utilizing Nano Banana to re-create retro appears impressed by Nineties Bollywood, imagining how they could have appeared throughout that period, full with period-specific vogue, hairstyles, and make-up. This pattern is native to India, Sharon instructed reporters.
A variation of the retro pattern is what some are calling the “AI saree,” the place customers generate vintage-style portraits of themselves carrying conventional Indian apparel.
One other pattern native to India is individuals producing their selfies in entrance of cityscapes and iconic landmarks, comparable to Huge Ben and the U.Ok.’s retro phone cubicles.
“We saw a lot of that in the beginning,” Sharon mentioned.
Techcrunch occasion
San Francisco
|
October 27-29, 2025
Indian customers are additionally experimenting with Nano Banana to rework objects, create time-travel results, and even reimagine themselves as retro postage stamps. Others are producing black-and-white portraits or utilizing the mannequin to visualise encounters with their youthful selves.
A few of these developments didn’t originate in India, however the nation performed a key function in serving to them achieve world consideration. One instance is the figurine pattern, the place individuals generate miniature variations of themselves, usually putting them in entrance of a pc display. The pattern first emerged in Thailand, unfold to Indonesia, and have become world after gaining traction in India, Sharon mentioned.
Along with Nano Banana, Google has noticed a pattern the place Indian customers are using its Veo 3 AI video-generation mannequin on the Gemini app to create brief movies from previous photographs of their grandparents and great-grandparents.
All of this has helped drive Gemini’s recognition on each the App Retailer and Google Play in India. Between January and August, the app noticed a mean of 1.9 million month-to-month downloads within the nation — about 55% greater than within the U.S. — accounting for 16.6% of worldwide month-to-month downloads, per Appfigures knowledge shared solely with TechCrunch.
India downloads have totaled 15.2 million this yr till August; the U.S., alternatively, has had 9.8 million downloads to date this yr, per Appfigures knowledge.
Each day downloads of the Gemini app in India considerably surged following the discharge of the Nano Banana replace, starting on September 1 with 55,000 installs throughout each app shops. Downloads peaked at 414,000 on September 13 — a 667% enhance — with Gemini holding the highest general spot on the iOS App Retailer since September 10 and on Google Play since September 12, together with throughout all classes, Appfigures knowledge exhibits.
Regardless of India main in downloads, the nation doesn’t high in-app purchases on the Gemini app, which has generated an estimated $6.4 million in world shopper spending on iOS since launch, per Appfigures. The U.S. accounts for the most important share at $2.3 million (35%), whereas India contributes $95,000 (1.5%). Nonetheless, India posted a report 18% month-over-month development in spending, reaching $13,000 between September 1 and 16 — in comparison with an 11% world enhance throughout the identical interval. That places India seven proportion factors above the worldwide charge and greater than 17 factors forward of the U.S., the place development was beneath 1%.
That mentioned, as with different AI apps, there are considerations about customers importing private photographs to Gemini to rework their look.
“When a user asks us to fulfill their query, we do our best to fulfill that query. We don’t try to assume what the user’s intent is,” Sharon mentioned whereas addressing questions on how Google is coping with knowledge misuse and privateness considerations amongst customers in India and different high markets. “We’ve really tried to improve that, and we have improved that to be bold and fulfil your request.”
Google locations a visual, diamond-shaped watermark on photos generated by the Nano Banana mannequin and likewise embeds a hidden marker utilizing its SynthID device to determine AI-generated content material. SynthID permits Google to detect and flag whether or not a picture was created utilizing its fashions.
Sharon instructed reporters that Google is testing a detection platform with trusted testers, researchers, and different specialists. The corporate additionally plans to launch a consumer-facing model that will permit anybody to test whether or not a picture is AI-generated.
“This is still day one, and we’re still learning, and we’re learning together. There are things that we might need to improve on in the future, and it’s really your feedback from users, press, academia, and experts that helps us improve,” Sharon mentioned.
