India Adds 40mn New Internet Users Each Year | 10 May 2019

According to Google’s ‘Year in Search - India: Insights for Brands’ report, an estimated 40 million Indians are joining the internet bandwagon annually, and this rate of expansion is among the fastest in the world.

Key Findings

• At 400 million active internet users, India is the second largest internet user market after China.
• The average mobile data usage per subscriber is pegged at about 8GB a month, which is at par with the consumption seen in developed markets.
• 9 out of 10 new internet users in India are likely to be Indian language users.
• There have been 270% growth year-on-year in voice searches on Google’s platform and consumers across categories are fast adapting to this new search tool for seeking information and discovering content.
• Audience for online videos is poised to touch 500 million by 2020.

Positive Impact

• As more and more Indians are using the internet, the problem of 'digital divide' in the country will get resolved.
• More and more players across several digital platforms will adopt a regional content strategy to reach out to the Indian masses.
• The attitudinal shift to online services will aid in digital banking, digital governance etc.

Way Forward

• Low data speed and unstable connection coupled with low broadband penetration are still prevalent in India. These infrastructural issues need to be resolved, along with adequate digital safety of infrastructure and users.