India will overtake US to become the second biggest Internet nation by December 2014, according to a new study. China currently leads with more than 600 million internet users while the US has an estimated 279 million internet users.
Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International have jointly published the report, titled 'Internet in India 2014'. The report highlighted that it took a decade to reach from 10 million to 100 million internet users, three years from 100 to 200 million but it only took an year to move from 200 to 300 million users.
In urban India, for nearly 93 percent of the respondents, the primary use of internet is for search, online communication and social networking, while in rural India, internet is primarily used for entertainment.
The number of internet users in urban India has grown by 29 per cent from October 2013 to reach 177 million in October 2014 and will reach approx 190 million by December 2014 and 216 million by June 2015. While in rural India internet users have increased significantly by 39 per cent to reach 101 million in October 2014 and is expected to reach 112 million by December 2014 and 138 million by June 2015.
"In October 2014, there were 278 million internet users in India. Currently, India has the third largest internet users' base in the world but it is estimated that by December 2014, India will overtake the US as the second largest Internet users' base in the world," the study said.
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Source: ET