India has 504 million active Internet users, or those who accessed the Internet in the last one month. These active users were five-year old and above as on November 2019, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI)'s Digital in India report.
Of the total Internet population, 433 million are more than 12-year old, while 71 million are in the age of 5-11 years, who access the Internet on devices of their family members.
The report also showed that nearly 70% of the active Internet population in India are daily users.
Nine out of 10 users in urban India access Internet at least once a week. In rural India, there is an addition of 30 million new users, who access internet daily compared to March 2019.
In India, close to one-third of users access Internet for ‘more than an hour’ during Sundays and holidays versus a normal working day.
The report claims that the time spent on the Internet continues to be higher in urban India compared to rural India, but with better connectivity, quality of service and affordability of mobile Internet, there could be an increase in rural consumers spending more time on the Internet in the future.
The report finds that 26 million new female Internet users were added in November 2019, a 21% increase compared to a 9% rise in male users. However, the usage of Internet among women in rural India is growing at a faster rate, with 31% increase in population in November 19. The split of male and female is 58:42 in metros with a population of more than 50 lakhs.
Mobile phones remain the first choice for a device to access internet in both urban and rural India due to their affordability, along with availability of cheaper data plans, finds the report.
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