The number of Internet users in India will hit 302 million by December 2014, registering a Y-o-Y growth of 32% over last year, revealed a latest report from the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International.
The report titled ‘Internet in India 2014’ states that in October 2014, there were 278 million internet users in India. The number of internet users in urban India has grown by 29 percent from October 2013 to reach 177 million in October 2014. It is expected to reach 190 million by December 2014 and 216 million by June 2015.
“The Internet in India took more than a decade to move from 10 million to 100 million and 3 years from 100 to 200 million. However, it took only a year to move from 200 to 300 million users. Clearly, Internet is mainstream in India today”, said the report.
At present, India has the third largest internet users’ base in the world but it is estimated that by December 2014, India will overtake US as the second largest Internet users’ base in the world. China currently leads with more than 600 million internet users while the US currently has estimated 279 million internet users.
The Internet userbase in the country stood at 257 million in June this year and further expanded to 278 million by the end of October. Of the 278 million, the number of mobile Internet users stood at 159 million and is estimated to reach 173 million by the end of December. Giving insights on the internet users further, the report touted that as on June 2014, 31.5 million (61%) in 35 cities were using Internet on a daily basis. The daily user base has gone up by 51% from June 2013. 96% of the Internet users are accessing Internet at least once a week. Out of these, 18% access Internet 4 to 6 times a week and 14% access Internet 2 to 3 times a week.
Moving on, almost 93% of respondents from Urban India use the internet for search, followed by online communication and social Networking. While in case of rural India, entertainment is the primary reason for internet usage, followed by communication and social networking, said the report. The number of mobile internet users has also witnessed a steady rise as there were 159 million mobile internet users in October which is estimated to reach 173 million by the end of December. In October, there were 119 million users accessing the Internet on mobile devices, in urban India. Rural India is not that far behind in this regard with a base of 40 million mobile Internet users in October 2013.