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 2023, there were 442 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 181 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 38 thousand internet equipped gram panchayats. These factors also led to an overall spike in the internet penetration rates across the country. From just over 27 percent internet penetration rate in 2015, India reached almost 49 percent in 2022. A perspective on the numbers Although these figures seem relatively low, it indicated that about 692 million would be internet users by January 2023. This ranked India second in terms of active internet users across the world that same year.

In financial year 2024, the total number of internet connections in India reached close to 954 million. The connectivity has more than tripled since 2015, in comparison to 302.33 million connections. Although around 70% of India's population lives in rural areas, the number of connections remains higher in urban areas compared to rural areas. In 2024, there were 556 million internet connections in urban areas.

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 of December 2023, the leading service area with the largest number internet subscribers in rural India was Bihar, with over 46 million users. The total number of internet subscribers in rural India during the measured time period was over 388 million.

The countries with the highest number of internet users as of January 2023 can be found here.

As per the results of a large scale survey across India in 2019, it was found that a majority of rural internet users in the country used the internet everyday. 17 percent of the users accessed internet less than once a week, while four percent of users went online four to five days a week.

As of 2021, India recorded a higher nationwide internet usage rate among men than women, at respectively 57.1 percent of male population and 33.3 percent of female population. The gender internet usage gap was also evident in rural India, with only one out of four women aged between 15 and 49 years having ever used the internet before, compared to just under 49 percent of their male counterparts in the region.

As a country with 1,433 million population, in 2020, India has around 299 million active internet users in rural area. It was estimated that in 2025, number of active internet users would surpass 900 million in the country. Althuogh there was a gap between the percentage of urban and rural active internet users, it has been narrowing down with development.

As of 2020, according to a survey, a majority of India's internet users were male and in rural areas. Around 58 percent of rural internet users were male while only 42 percent of rural users were female that year. In comparison, there were more female internet users in urban areas with a share of 43 percent and 57 percent were urban male users.

According to a survey on the internet usage across rural India in 2017, it was found that approximately 14 percent of the surveyed farmers used internet to browse, chat and listen to songs. Other popular activities online included online education, bank transfers ad photo sharing.

This statistic illustrates the results of a survey asking rural internet users in India about reasons to access the internet in 2016. During the measured time period, 39 percent of the respondents answered that they accessed the internet for entertainment.

As per the results of a large scale survey across India in 2019, it was seen that an overwhelming majority of rural Indians used mobile phones to access internet. Only two percent of the respondents stated that they used a laptop to browse the internet, while none of the respondents used tablets to go online.

As per the results of a large scale media survey across India in 2019, it was found that a majority of rural internet users in the country accessed internet from their homes. Only around 20 to 25 percent of the users accessed internet while travelling or while at work. This was similar to the urban internet usage that year.

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.

As of December 2023, the leading service area with the largest number broadband internet subscribers in rural India was the state of Bihar, with over 44 million users. The total number of broadband internet subscribers in rural India during the measured time period was over 375 million.

A majority of internet users in urban and rural India were between 20 and 29 years of age in 2019. Interestingly, a higher proportion of these users were from the rural hinterlands of the country at around 37 percent compared to around 33 percent in the urban areas.

A large majority of urban as well as rural Indians used 4G networks to access internet, according to a survey in 2019. 3G network connections ranked second in terms of popularity with ten percent of users accessing internet via these mobile networks. At the same time, WiFi connections were the choice for around nine percent of urban users, but only two percent of rural users.

While men constituted more than half of the active internet users in India, female users accounted for 46 percent in 2023. Over the years, the gender gap among Indian internet users appears to have been closing. In 2023, the overall number of internet users in the country amounted to over 800 million, with most of them residing in rural India.

This statistic depicts the results of a survey asking non internet users in rural India about reasons for not using internet in 2016. During the measured time period, the main reason for not using internet was low awareness of benefits, answered by 80 percent of the respondents.

As of 2024, an estimated 86 percent of Europeans living in rural areas accessed the internet, compared to 85 percent of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) rural population. The lowest internet usage reach was in rural areas in Africa, at 23 percent. Overall, urban areas presented a higher percentage of internet penetration.

As of 2024, an estimated 68 percent of all individuals worldwide were using the internet. The internet penetration rate in worldwide urban areas was around 83 percent, and 48 percent in rural areas. The lowest penetration rate was registered in rural areas of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), 25 percent. Urban Small Island Developing Countries, on the other hand, reported an internet usage rate of 81 percent.