According to the IAMAI and Kantar joint report statistics, 665 million of the total population living in India will not have access to the internet by 2023, i.e., 66.5 crore people still will not have internet access.
The number of Internet users in India has rapidly increased over the last decade. Initially, 2G networks were available in India, followed by 3G. With the arrival of Jio, the speed of 4G has increased, and now 5G services have also begun. However, according to a joint report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Kantar, almost half of India’s population still does not have internet access. The report states that 45% of the Indian population still does not have internet access, and by 2023, around 665 million people will not have internet access.
The report also shows that 52% of India’s population, or about 76.20 crore people, will not have access to the Internet in 2021. This number is expected to decrease to 48% in 2022, but even then, 71.40 crore people will not have internet access. This number will decrease further to 45% in 2023, and 66.50 crore people in India will be inactive internet users. The number of people using the Internet is gradually increasing every year, but the decline in the number of inactive users is only three to four per cent per year.
The report also highlights the reasons for not using the internet. For example, 23% of non-active internet users living in urban and rural areas believe that the internet is very difficult to understand and use. 22% of non-active Internet users say they are not aware of the benefits of the Internet, while 22% say they are not interested in using the Internet. Furthermore, 21% of non-active internet users said they don’t have permission to use the internet, and 17% say they cannot afford the internet. 16% of non-active internet users believe that the internet is too confusing, while 16% say they don’t have their own devices like a mobile or computer at home. 13% of non-active internet users say they don’t find anything interesting on the internet, and 13% say it takes too much time, and they don’t have enough free time.
That said, the number of active internet users in India is increasing day by day, and new records are being set every day. By 2023, the number of internet users in India is expected to exceed 800 million, which is about 80 crores. The report also shows that the average cost of 1GB of data in India is Rs.7, which is significantly lower than the average price of 1GB of data in America, which is Rs.257. Despite the low cost of internet access in India, only 50% of the population uses the internet, while in America, 92% of the population uses the internet.