According to a recent IAMAI report, Mumbai has the highest penetration of Internet users in India with more than 12 million Internet users. The city has seen a growth of 45 percent mainly driven by easy internet access through smartphones.
According to a statement by Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Delhi comes in second with 8.1 million Internet users and Hyderabad third with 4.7 million Internet users. Chennai is fourth with 4.5 million internet users and Kolkata fifth with 4.4 million internet users in the country.
Kolkata registered the highest growth of Internet users with 47 per cent year-on-year growth, followed by Mumbai with 45 per cent y-o-y growth and Bangalore with 43 percent y-o-y growth.
The report added that the growth in Internet users in metros like Mumbai is driven by increasing access to the internet among lower income groups, students and housewives. IAMAI conducted the survey on 77,000 households across 35 cities in India. The study focused on cities with over one million (2001 census) population. The survey includes people from all income groups, chosen randomly.
Nilotpal Chakravarti, associate vice-president, IAMAI stated, “Easy access to internet on mobile phones has resulted in greater internet penetration across India, with smartphones available at a range of prices. Most phones now have internet. Many features on these phones will not be available without internet.”
“Those who began using the net several years ago will not stop doing so today, and have continued using the internet over the years. The growth in internet users is because of new users belonging to lower income groups,” says Chakravarti.
India has become the third largest internet population according to a recent comScore study. India has now more than 73.9 million internet users and has seen a y-o-y growth of 31% this year.
Source: TOI