According to a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Kantar, India will have more than 900 million internet users in 2025, with a majority coming from rural areas. This growth will be driven by the growing use of Indic languages for digital content.
As per the report, however, the growth rate of internet users has slowed down since 2021. In 2024, the number of internet users in India grew 10 per cent, compared to 11 per cent in 2023, and 14 per cent in 2022. As of 2024 end, the country had 886 million internet users, representing a 58 per cent penetration. In 2021, rural India surpassed urban India in terms of internet users and this usage has been growing rapidly since then. In 2024, 55 per cent of the country’s internet users were from rural India.
The report mentioned that users spend an average of 90 minutes daily on the internet, with urban users spending 94 minutes compared to 89 minutes for their rural counterparts. In addition, Kerala, Goa and Maharashtra lead in internet penetration, while Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar have the lowest levels of penetration.
The report further highlighted that accessing over-the-top (OTT) video and audio streaming apps has become the top use case in India for internet users surpassing digital communication (chats, emails, messages) and social media. In 2024, 732 million users used OTT apps with 54 per cent of these coming from rural areas and only 15 per cent from the top nine cities of the country. Similarly, digital commerce saw 480 million users last year, with 40 per cent of this coming from rural regions. Only 21 per cent of this base came from the top nine cities. Meanwhile, he trends were similar across use cases such as online gaming, digital payments and social media.
