A third of the country’s people are now online, mostly on mobile.
Of India’s 1.3 billion people, a third now have internet access. Globally, this number is rather low, as almost half of the world’s population is now online. However, by sheer number, China is the only nation that has more connected people with 731 million. 79% of the web traffic in India is mobile, and around 14% of users are active on social media.
These statistics are part of a global compendium published by social media marketing agencies We Are Social and Hootsuite. Globally, the world is seeing about a 10% increase in internet users every year. India in particular saw a big year in 2016 with internet users increasing by 23%. The average internet speed however, is less ideal. India is stuck with an average of 4.1 mbps, well below the average of 6.3 mbps.
Currently, Indians spend around 8 hours a day online, more than China’s average of 6 hours. The boom in internet use can be explained by looking at the statistics for mobile sales. Thanks to affordable smart phone sales in India, mobile traffic accounts for 79% of all web traffic, way above the global average of 50%.
India has recently been making a push towards becoming a cashless society, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging the population to turn to other methods of payment, such as mobile based payment systems. This is probably still a long way off, and the PM has received a lot of criticism for the cashless push being utterly un-achievable, but the popularity of smartphones might at least bring them closer to that goal.
source: TechinAsia
