India now has 759 mn ‘active’ internet users; soon to reach 900 mn by 2025

This is for the first time that the majority of Indians have become active Internet users

May 4, 2023

Digital entertainment, digital communications, and social media continue to be popular in India

India now has 759 million ‘active’ internet users, accessing the web at least once a month, and the figure is set to reach 900 million by 2025, a report showed.

In terms of usage, digital entertainment, digital communications, and social media continue to be the most popular services in India. In fact, Indians are fast adapting social media platforms as the next e-commerce destination, with a staggering 51 percent YoY growth in social commerce.

From the current ‘active’ internet user base in 2022, 399 million are from rural India while 360 million are from urban areas, indicating that rural India continues to drive the growth of the internet in the country, according to the report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and data and analytics company Kantar.

Even though the gender divide persists with 54 percent male users, “it is heartening to note that 57 percent of all new users in 2022 were females.”

“It is estimated that by 2025, 65 percent of all new users will be women, which will help correct the gender divide,” the report mentioned.

Urban India, with approximately 71 percent internet penetration, witnessed only 6 percent growth, with much of the overall gain in numbers coming from rural India, which witnessed a 14 percent growth rate over the past year.

It is estimated that 56 percent of all new internet users in India will be from rural India by 2025.

“Digital Divide, however, continues to plague the positive narrative with a huge disparity in internet penetrations across states, with Bihar (32 percent) having less than half the level of internet penetration than the leading state Goa (70 percent),” the report mentioned.

[With Inputs from IANS]

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