According to GWI, the top reasons for this surge in usage includes messaging apps being free (45 percent), being quicker than using social networks or text messages to speak to people (41 percent) and lots of friends using them (41 percent).

In Asia Pacific, WeChat was the dominant messaging app (337 million), WhatsApp led the pack in India. “Mobile messaging tools have experienced substantial growth during this recent period, particularly amongst the younger generation. Social networks are now being treated more passively, the number of people messaging friends on social networks is now declining,” GlobalWebIndex Head of Trends Jason Mander told reporters here.

People are now seeing mobile messaging apps as a more efficient way to communicate, he added. “In the last year, the Indian mobile messaging audience grew by 113 percent, we expect the number of mobile messaging users to continue to grow in the coming quarters,” he said.

He added that smartphones are vital to Internet users in India, where 79 percent of the online population own a smartphone. “The users of mobile messengers are young, affluent and highly active online,” Mander said.