According to the Bharat 2.0 Internet study by Nielsen, there has been a heartening 45 per cent growth in Active Internet Users in rural India since 2019. The study revealed that there are 646 million active internet users in India above the age of two years, as of December 2021.
In fact, as compared to urban India, the number of internet users is 20 per cent higher in rural India. There are 352 million and 294 million internet users in rural India and urban India respectively. Despite that, around 60 per cent of rural population is still not using the internet, not actively at least which means there is scope for more growth here.
Another heart-warming fact to come out of this study is that the number of female internet users has increased by 61 per cent in the last two years. In fact, one in every three female internet users in rural India is actively using it.
Even those who are above the age of 50 are becoming digital-savvy with 81 per cent of the age group using internet daily.
It was found that most internet users use it on their mobile phones. “Availability of budget smartphones and affordable mobile data along with the Indian government’s efforts to strengthen the existing digital infrastructure through compelling initiatives such as Digital India and powered by one of the cheapest data prices in the world enabled by the Telecom companies, have led to enhanced and faster levels of internet adoption across the country”, said Dolly Jha, Managing Director, Nielsen India.
Most internet users are using it for social networking, watching videos, and listening to music. Among the 440 million people that use the internet for watching videos, 54 per cent are from rural India. The male to female ratio among active internet users is 60:40.
While many see as online banking and digital payments as rather urban, 46 per cent of users are actually from rural India. However, here the male-female divide is higher at 69:31.