Based on the ICUBE 2021 survey, the recently released IAMAI KANTAR report “Internet in India” shows a tremendous increase in internet users in rural India. According to the survey, India currently has 692 million active internet users, with rural India continuing to lead the way in terms of growth (351 Mn users, or 37% penetration), as urban India appears to have reached a plateau (341 Mn users with 69 percent penetration).
The analysis projects that by 2025, India will have 900 million internet users, with rural expansion driving this increase. Goa and Bihar have the highest and lowest internet penetration rates, respectively, among the states. More significantly for Indian internet enterprises, 346 million Indians engage in genuine online transactions like e-commerce and digital payments, which is higher than the estimated 331 million US citizens. From 230 Mn in 2019 in India, the worldwide pandemic saw a record-breaking 51% surge in digital transactions in just two years. In terms of gender distribution, male internet users outnumber female users in India, with about identical gender ratios across urban and rural users. The top three online activities in India, according to user cases, are entertainment, communications, and social networking. While text and email-based communication is the most common method of use, the poll indicates that voice and Indic language usage will be the important factors in growth going forward.
Two out of every five rural internet users have engaged in voice-based activities on their phones. While OTT service prevalence in rural India is on par with that in urban India, other digital service penetration including online gaming, digital commerce, and digital payments remains biased in favor of urban users. This illustrates the rural population’s significant untapped potential for the expansion of such services. Currently, 762 million Indians 63 percent of whom live in rural areas have not yet embraced the internet. The main impediment, coupled with ignorance, is still “difficulty to understand the Internet,”, especially in rural India. The “Internet in India” report, based on the ICUBE 2021 research, is an annual report that is the oldest and most complete survey of internet usage in the nation.
It covers over 77,000+ households throughout all states and Union Territories of India (apart from Lakshadweep). Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and KANTAR, the top provider of marketing data and analytics worldwide, worked together to create the research.
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