Internet user base in India at 302 mn, set for exponential growth

More than 100 million new users added in just one year; mobile internet usage seen as next frontier

It took more than a decade for the internet user base to grow from 10 million to 100 million in India, while the jump to 200 million  took three years. From there, the growth was even faster, it took only an year to touch the 300-million mark.

According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the number of internet users reached 302 million by December 2014, with growth of 32 per cent in 2013. By June this year, it had already touched 354 million, primarily driven by mobile internet users, which have reached 213 million.

“We believe 2014 was the year of internet and are of the firm view that the internet has reached an inflection point,” IAMAI said, in a report.

“The consolidated numbers taken out by IAMAI for FY14 affirms the fact that internet in India had now becoming inclusive, which augurs well for the industry and society at large,” it added.

Interestingly, the report said the number of mobile internet users is growing the fastest, with it witnessing a growth of 45 per cent in 2014 over the previous year.

As on October 2014, India had 159 million mobile internet users, of which close to 75 per cent users were urbanites, while the rest were from rural India.

The number of mobile internet users is now estimated to have reached 213 million as of June 2015, according to IAMAI-IMRB estimates.

The rise in the number of Internet users in rural India has also helped in rising use of the local language user base (127 million as of June 2015) and local language content. Since many of the users in rural India are getting exposed to the Internet for the first time, they are also aiding the usage of social media. In 2015, usage of social media in rural India has shown growth of 100 per cent with around 25 million users while urban India registered a relatively lower growth of 35 per cent.

According to the report, the growing internet penetration is having huge impact on digital commerce, the market for which was valued at Rs 81,525 crore by the end of December 2014, a growth of 53 per cent over 2013.

This is estimated to grow further by 33 per cent so as to cross Rs 1,00,000 crore by 2015-end.

Besides, this has aided the digital payment industry, which grew 40 per cent to reach Rs 1,20,120 crore by December 2014, with the metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai contributing around 60 per cent of the total digital payment gateway market size.

Month and Year	Total Internet Users (million)	Urban (mn)	Rural (mn)
Jun-12	137	99	38
Jun-13	189.6	130	59.6
Jun-14	257	165	92
Oct-14	278	177	101
Dec-14	302	190	112
Jun-15	354	216	138