How India is using the Internet

India has more than 820 million active internet users at present. Over half of them — 442 million — now come from rural parts of the country. In 2023, internet penetration grew eight per cent year-on-year.

A new report shows that Indians’ internet behaviour and activities are changing in several ways.

Here’s a data-backed snapshot of how Indians are using the web.

USER BASE
1. The number of active internet users in rural India exceeds that of urban users.
2. The number of non-active internet users is on the decline, but around half of rural India are still not active.
3. Urban India spends slightly more time on the internet per day on average than rural India.
4. Despite the narrowing gap, women still fall behind men in internet usage.

USER BEHAVIOUR
1. Video and audio OTT consumption is the top way Indians are using the internet.
2. One in five netizens watch video only over the internet and not on linear TV.
3. The share of users accessing the internet on someone else’s device is increasing.
4. There is an uptick in use of non-traditional devices like smart TV, smart speakers, Firesticks, Chromecasts, bluray and gaming consoles.
5. One in four online shoppers in urban India have shopped from social media apps in the past year.

6. Only 26 per cent of online shoppers avail cash on delivery.
7. Music streaming users saw an eight per cent Y-o-Y growth.
8. Digital is now the go-to to access news — but not everyone’s a conscious user.
9. One in four urban users are going for voice commands.
10.Indic for India — local language use is taking off across activities. Some languages do better than others.