'No of people getting connected internet in India to double'

The number of people getting connected to internet in India through smartphones is all set to double to 600-650 million by 2020, making it a challenge of opportunities to come up with technological solutions to meet the scenario, a top Google India official said here today.
Rajan Anandan, Google India Managing Director and Vice-President(South East Asia), was speakingafter launching Keralas first incubator "Mobile 10x Hub", an initiative by KeralaStartup Mission to create a mobile app-based ecosystem, on the sidelines of Kerala Mobile App Conference 2018 (K-MAC 2018) at UL CyberPark here today.
"More than 300 million of them (people) connect to the internet through their smart phones. And it will become 600 650 million by the year 2020, and thushalf of India will be connected", he said.

"Going by the current scenario in Kerala, by 2020 every single Keralite will be on the internet. the state is leading the way for India as it focuses on the country's real problems", Anandan said.
With more than 600 million Indians accessing the internet on smart phones, this will become the access device through which a whole range of solutions can be delivered to address real problems the consumers have, he said.
"You seem to have in your state many entrepreneurs focusing onIndias real problems as opposed to looking at countries like U.S.,China and trying to understand what is successful and trying to replicate it," he said.

Hence, we are hoping to see the emergence of a large number of startups using technology to solve Indias problems, not forsaking the quality".

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in his web message congratulated Cyberpark on this 'great' achievement and extended the Government's full support for the Mobile 10x Incubation facility in Kerala.
He also urged the mobile app developer community of Kerala to develop citizen friendly apps that would initiate them into accesse-governance services provided by the Kerala Government.
M Sivasankar, Secretary, IT, Kerala, cited the need to conduct acomprehensive study on the internet and smart phone usage in Kerala and urgedthe Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) to take it up.

Jitender Singh Minhas, Vice President, IAMAI, and Hrishikesh Nair, CEO, Technoparks, Kerala exchanged a MoU to start the Mobile 10x hub, on the occasion.