The internet consumption in India is on a steep rise as the country now has more than 500 million active internet users. According to the Digital in India report published by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and curated by Nielsen, based on IRS data, India has 504 million active Internet users (used internet in the last one month) who are 5 years and above as of Nov’ 19.
The report highlights that the of the overall internet population, 433 million are of the age of 12+ and 71 million are in the age bracket of 5-11 years who access the Internet on the devices of family members. The report further mentions that about 70 per cent of the internet users are daily users and 9 out of 10 internet users in urban areas access the Internet at least once a week. In Rural India, there is an addition of 30 million new users who access the internet daily compared to March 2019.
The report says that Indian spends more than one hour during Sundays or any holidays as compared to a normal working day. The time spent on the internet is higher in Urban areas as compared to the rural areas.
Interestingly, the report finds that 26 million new Female Internet users were added in Nov’19 which is a 21 per cent increase compared to that of a 9% increase in Male. The report says that the majority of the users in rural areas are male, however, usage of internet among female in rural India is growing at a fast clip with 31 per cent increase in internet population in Nov’19 compared to Mar’19. The split of Male and Female is 58:42 in Metro 50L+
“Mobile continues to remain the device of choice for accessing the internet in both Urban and Rural. Given the affordability of mobile devices along with the availability of cheaper data plans, accessing the Internet through a mobile device has clearly become the first choice,” finds the report.