Google’s nanobanana image generation model, formally known as Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, has Boost global momentum For Gemini app Launched last month. But in India, it has enjoyed its creativity, and as privacy and security issues begin to emerge, retro portraits and local trends spread.
According to David Sharon, head of multi-modal generation of Geamini Apps at Google DeepMind, India has become the number one spot in the use of nanobananas. The popularity of the model also pushed the Gemini app to the top of the free app charts for the App Store and Google Play in India. The application also has Climb to the top of the global app storeaccording to AppFigures.
Given India’s size – the world’s second largest smartphone market, second-largest online population after China – it’s no surprise that the country leads adoption. But it’s not just how many people use nanobananas that caught Google’s attention: Millions of Indians interact with AI models in unique local, highly creative ways, which in some cases are completely unexpected.
One of the outstanding trends was that Indians used nanobananas to recreate retro inspiration inspired by Bollywood in the 1990s, imagining how their emergence might have emerged in that era, with period-specific fashion, hairstyles and makeup. Salon told reporters that this trend is local to India.
One change in the retro trend is what some call “AI sari” where users wear traditional Indian outfits to produce their own retro-style portraits.
Another trend in India is that people take selfies on cityscapes and iconic landmarks such as Big Ben and the UK’s retro phone booth.
“We saw a lot from the beginning,” Sharon said.
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Indian users are also trying Nano Banana to change objects, create time travel effects, and even reimagine themselves as retro stamps. Others are generating black and white portraits, or using models to image the young self.
Some of these trends do not originate in India, but the country has played a key role in helping them attract global attention. An example is Statue Trendspeople generate their own miniature versions, usually putting them in front of computer screens. Sharon said the trend first emerged in Thailand, spread to Indonesia, and became global after India gained attention.
In addition to nanobananas, Google has also observed a trend in which Indian users use their WEO 3 AI video generation model on the Gemini app to create short videos from old photos of grandparents and great-grandparents.
All of this helped make Gemini more visibility on the App Store and Google Play in India. Between January and August, the app averaged 1.9 million downloads per month (about 55% higher than the U.S.), accounting for 16.6% of global monthly downloads, with data per app only shared with TechCrunch.
India’s downloads this year were 15.2 million until August; on the other hand, the United States has 9.8 million downloads so far this year.
Daily downloads for the Indian Gemini App have soared sharply after the release of Nano Banana updates on September 1, with 55,000 installs installed in both app stores. On September 13, the download peak reached 414,000, an increase of 667% – Gemini has peaked on Google Play since September 10 and has included all categories, including all categories, AppFigures data shows.
Despite India’s leading downloads, the country has not purchased the highest in-app purchases on the Gemini app, which has estimated to generate $6.4 million in global consumer spending on iOS since its launch. The United States accounts for the largest share of $2.3 million (35%), while India contributes $95,000 (1.5%). However, India’s spending rose by a record 18% month-on-month growth to $13,000, compared with 11% global growth over the same period. This puts India’s seven percentage points higher than global interest rates, above 17 points ahead of the United States and below 1%.
That said, like other AI apps, there are concerns about users uploading personal photos to Gemini to change their appearance.
“When users ask us to meet their query, we do our best to meet that query. We won’t try to assume what the user’s intentions are,” Sharon said, while addressing questions about how Google deals with data abuse and privacy issues in India and other top markets. “We do try to improve this, and we have improved it to make your request bold and meet your requirements.”
Google has a visible diamond-shaped watermark on images generated by nanobanana models, and also uses it to embed hidden markers Synthesis Tools Identify content generated by AI. SynthID allows Google to detect and mark whether to use its model to create images.
Salon told reporters that Google is testing a testing platform with trusted testers, researchers and other experts. The company also plans to launch a consumer-facing version that will allow anyone to check if the image is AI-generated.
“It’s still the first day, we’re still learning, we’re learning together. There are some things we might need to improve in the future, and in fact, your feedback to users, the press, academia and experts can really help us improve,” Sharon said.
