759 million Indians, over half of country's population, connected to the internet: Report
Around 759 million Indians, over half of the country’s population, are connected to the internet and access the web at least once a month, a report has claimed.
A joint report published by industry body IAMAI and market data analytics firm Kantar titled ‘Internet in India Report 2022 ‘ on Wednesday said that that at present around 759 million citizens are active internet users and user base in the country is expected to mount to 900 million by the year 2025.
The report said that for the first time, over half of India,s 1.4 billion population accesses the internet at least once a month and number is expected to reach 900 million users by 2025.
As per the report, 399 million users out of the 759 million, are from rural India, while 360 million belong to urban areas, thus highlighting the fact that the internet has penetrated deep into rural India which drives the its growth in the country.
The report noted that urban India, which has an approximate internet user base of 71 percent, witnessed a marginal 6 percent growth in the year 2022, while an uptick of 14 percent was seen during the same period in internet usage from rural India, adding that an estimated 56 percent of new users in the country will belong to rural areas by 2025.
On the other hand, the report revealed that the digital divide continues to be a huge factor in India with a massive disparity in internet penetrations across different states.
According to the report, Bihar has 32 percent internet users as compared to Goa, which leads the list with 70 percent of the state’s population being connected to the web.
The report further reveals that even though there’s a minor disparity between male and female users, with the former accounting for 54 percent of total users, it is an encouraging stat that the 57 percent of all new users in 2022 were female and by 2025, at least 65 percent of new users will be women.
As per the report, digital payments witnessed a growth of 13 percent in 2022 with over 338 million users— 36 percent of whom come from rural India.
The report said that around ninety-nine percent of digital payment users are UPI users.
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