The internet penetration rate in India rose over 55 percent in 2025, from about 14 percent in 2014. Although these figures seem relatively low, it meant that more than half of the population of 1.4 billion people had internet access that year. This also ranked the country second in the world in terms of active internet users. Internet availability and accessibility By 2021 the number of internet connections across the country tripled with urban areas accounting for a higher density of connections than rural regions. Despite incredibly low internet prices, internet usage in India has yet to reach its full potential. Lack of awareness and a tangible gender gap lie at the heart of the matter, with affordable mobile handsets and mobile internet connections presenting only a partial solution. Reliance Jio was the popular choice among Indian internet subscribers, offering them wider coverage at cheap rates. Digital living Home to one of the largest bases of netizens in the world, India is abuzz with internet activities being carried out every moment of every day. From information and research to shopping and entertainment to living in smart homes, Indians have welcomed digital living with open arms. Among these, social media usage was one of the most common reasons for accessing the internet.

The number of internet users in India was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 262.9 million users (+27.73 percent). After the fifteenth consecutive increasing year, the number of users is estimated to reach 1.2 billion users and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the number of internet users of was continuously increasing over the past years.Depicted is the estimated number of individuals in the country or region at hand, that use the internet. As the datasource clarifies, connection quality and usage frequency are distinct aspects, not taken into account here.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the number of internet users in countries like Nepal and Pakistan.

Graph and download economic data for Internet users for India (ITNETUSERP2IND) from 1990 to 2022 about internet, India, and persons.

In 2023, India had over 1.2 billion internet users across the country. This figure was projected to grow to over 1.6 billion users by 2050, indicating a big market potential in internet services for the South Asian country. In fact, India was ranked as the second largest online market worldwide in 2022, second only to China. The number of internet users was estimated to increase in both urban as well as rural regions, indicating a dynamic growth in access to internet.

Mobile connectivity

Of the total internet users in the country, a majority of the people access the internet via their mobile phones. There were nearly the same amount of smartphone users as internet users across the country. Cheap availability of mobile data, a growing smartphone user base in the country along with the utility value of smartphones compared to desktops and tablets are some of the factors contributing to the mobile heavy internet access in India.

Growth is on the cards

Despite the large number of internet users in the country, the internet penetration levels took longer to catch up equally. At the same time, the number of women who have access to internet is much lower than men in the country, and the bias is even more evident in rural India. Similarly, internet usage is lower among older adults in the country due to internet literacy and technological know-how. By encouraging internet accessibility among marginalized groups including women, older people and rural inhabitants in the country, India’s digital footprint has significant headroom to grow.

As a country with 1,433 million population, in 2020, India has around 622 million active internet users. It was estimated that in 2025, number of active internet users would surpass 900 million in the country. Although there was a gap between the percentage of urban and rural active internet users, it has been narrowing down with development.

Individuals using the Internet (% of population) in India was reported at 55.9 % in 2022, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. India - Individuals using the Internet (% of population) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on May of 2025.

Over 34 percent of the Indian population accessed the internet in 2017. This was a drastic increase from 7.5 percent in 2010. Despite the huge, yet-to-be utilized potential, India is already the second-largest online market worldwide.

Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Youku data was reported at 0.040 % in 02 May 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.010 % for 01 May 2024. Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Youku data is updated daily, averaging 0.000 % from Jan 2024 (Median) to 02 May 2024, with 111 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.200 % in 26 Mar 2024 and a record low of 0.000 % in 30 Apr 2024. Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Youku data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statcounter Global Stats. The data is categorized under Global Database’s India – Table IN.SC.IU: Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share.

While Indians between 12 and 34 years dominated internet use from 2013 to 2019 with about 65 percent of the total market, this was projected to change by 2025. Between 2019 and 2025, it was estimated that age group 35 years and older would make up 66 percent of internet usage in India.

Gender and internet

Among the total internet users in the country, it was found that around 70 percent users were male and only about 30 percent were female users. While this was expected to change to 60 percent male users and 40 percent female users by 2020, it still showed a gender gap of internet accessibility in the south-Asian country. While several factors lead to this digital gender gap, economic and socio-cultural barriers stand out as the most compelling reasons.

Older Indians part of digitalization

The median age of India’s population was around 27 years in 2015, echoing the range of the country’s majority internet user base. The estimated shift, however, in the years to come would be the successful efforts towards digitalizing India. If done right, this would propel older adults to adopt and master new media technologies in their daily activities beyond social media and communication, including the use of financial services.

The population share with mobile internet access in India was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 25 percentage points. After the fifteenth consecutive increasing year, the mobile internet penetration is estimated to reach 73.62 percent and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the population share with mobile internet access of was continuously increasing over the past years.The penetration rate refers to the share of the total population having access to the internet via a mobile broadband connection.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the population share with mobile internet access in countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

As of the third quarter of 2024, finding information was the leading reason to use the internet in India, as reported by over 52 percent of its internet users. Staying in touch with friends and family was the next leading reason. Indian internet users devoted nearly seven hours a day to using the internet during the surveyed period. Expanding digital landscape India's internet user base has grown significantly and is expected to reach over 1.6 billion by 2050. This expansion is driven by increased mobile connectivity, with smartphone users nearly matching the total number of internet users. Affordable mobile data and the utility of smartphones have contributed to India's mobile-centric internet access. However, internet penetration varies widely across regions, with Delhi leading at 68 percent and Odisha lagging behind. Challenges ahead Despite the large user base, India faces challenges in ensuring equitable internet access. Gender disparities persist, particularly in rural areas, and older adults have lower usage rates due to literacy and technological barriers. India's internet freedom score of 50 out of 100 in 2024 indicates a “partly free” status, reflecting government-imposed restrictions and censorship. However, the average monthly data consumption reached 24.1 gigabytes per user in 2023, driven by online education, remote work, and increased streaming content consumption.

Forecast: Total Internet Users in India 2023 - 2027 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

As per the results of a survey across India in 2019, India's internet penetration stood at around 40 percent. The national capital territory of Delhi had the highest internet penetration levels that year at 68 percent, followed by Kerala at 56 percent. Odisha had the lowest penetration level during the same time period.

India Internet Usage: Device Vendor Market Share: Tablet: Kobo data was reported at 0.000 % in 05 Feb 2025. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.000 % for 04 Feb 2025. India Internet Usage: Device Vendor Market Share: Tablet: Kobo data is updated daily, averaging 0.000 % from Jan 2025 (Median) to 05 Feb 2025, with 9 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.060 % in 01 Feb 2025 and a record low of 0.000 % in 05 Feb 2025. India Internet Usage: Device Vendor Market Share: Tablet: Kobo data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statcounter Global Stats. The data is categorized under Global Database’s India – Table IN.SC.IU: Internet Usage: Device Vendor Market Share.

Forecast: Total Internet Users in India 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

India Internet Usage: Search Engine Market Share: Desktop: PrivacyWall data was reported at 0.030 % in 16 May 2025. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.030 % for 15 May 2025. India Internet Usage: Search Engine Market Share: Desktop: PrivacyWall data is updated daily, averaging 0.010 % from Jul 2024 (Median) to 16 May 2025, with 307 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.050 % in 04 May 2025 and a record low of 0.000 % in 12 Mar 2025. India Internet Usage: Search Engine Market Share: Desktop: PrivacyWall data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statcounter Global Stats. The data is categorized under Global Database’s India – Table IN.SC.IU: Internet Usage: Search Engine Market Share.

High Frequency Indicator: The dataset contains year-, quarter- and state-wise compiled data from the year 2014 to till date on the total number of broadband and narrowband internet subscribers in the rural and urban areas of India

In an April 2024 survey of home internet users across India, around 39 percent of those with fiber, broadband, DSL, or fixed line connections reported slower internet speeds than expected, and 17 percent experienced frequent disruptions. Most home internet users in India prefer these types of connections over dongles and mobile hotspots.

India’s digital adoption has been driven by the rural heartland of the country, registering a high growth of internet users compared to their urban counterparts. In 2024, there were *** million internet users in rural India, accounting for more than half the country's netizens. Bridging the internet gap This jump in rural internet penetration was largely owing to the increased availability of bandwidth, cheap data plans, and various government initiatives under the Digital India campaign. As of 2022, over *** thousand village and small-town councils, called Gram Panchayats, were equipped with internet access across India. Of these, Uttar Pradesh had the maximum connectivity in its rural areas with ** thousand internet-equipped gram panchayats. These factors also led to an overall spike in the internet penetration rates across the country. From just over a ** percent internet penetration rate in 2015, India reached almost ** percent in 2022. A perspective on the numbers Although these figures seem relatively low, it indicated that about *** million would be internet users by January 2023. This ranked India second in terms of active internet users across the world that same year.

As of January 2021, China ranked first with around 939.8 million internet users while India achieved second place with 624 million internet users. China and India were not only leading within the Asia Pacific region, but had the highest number of internet users worldwide. The Asia Pacific region had the largest number of internet users globally, however, internet penetration in Asia was still below the global average.

Internet usage in Asia Pacific When it comes to the demographic of Asia Pacific’s internet users, the region has more male than female internet users. The daily time individuals spent using the internet across the Asia Pacific region has consistently increased from the onset of 2011. There are also expectations that the daily time spent using the internet will continue to increase through to 2021.

Mobile internet Mobile internet has been an area which has undergone a strong development across the globe throughout recent years. Mobile network download speeds in the Asia Pacific region have seen vast improvements, with South Korea, Japan, and Singapore all having exhibited impressive download speeds. As such, mobile internet user penetration across the Asia Pacific region was forecasted to increase dramatically by 2025.