India To Beat U.S. In Internet Users’ Race

The Mobile Internet User base jumped to 80 million by October, growing at 99 percent over past year.

India’s Internet user base has increased by 49% as compared to previous year.

As per the IAMAI and IMRB report, “While Internet in India took more than a decade to move from 10 million to 100 million and 3 years from 100 to 200 million, it took only a year to move from 300 to 400 million users”. The staggering population of India is becoming more accustomed with accessing the Internet on their mobile phones, and thus the user base has grown considerably in the a year ago.

By December this year the survey says 306 million users will access the internet in this way. This makes India the second largest internet user base in the world behind China, but it is ranked first as the largest internet users in a free market democratic setup.

The report also showed trends of Internet usage among men and women and said that men constituted 71% of the total user base while there were 29% women users.

Small metros are witnessing a 60% jump in number of users and cities, including Surat, have the highest Internet ownership in the country.

It is also reported that Internet is majorly accessed for entertainment, Social networking and online communication, while only 24 percent in urban regions and 5 percent in rural areas it is being used for online shopping.

This segment has grown by 97 per cent over previous year, followed by school going girls (36 per cent growth) and college going girls (26 per cent growth). This ratio is slightly better in the country’s urban areas, with 62% male users and 38% female users.

Last year too, IAMAI estimated similar figures and at the end of the three-year period, it just added up the number without giving scientific explanation.

According to the survey, India will reach 402 million users by the end of the year, with 351 million active on a daily basis.

In rural India the user base of mobile internet users is expected to reach 87 million by December 2015 and 109 million by June 2016.

While 37 per cent of males are daily users, only 23 per cent of the female internet users access the net daily. About 75 per cent of users among both genders access the internet at least once a week.

The prices for mobile phones have dropped in 2015, which made them accessible for people with modest earnings.