McKinsey Report Indicates India Internet Users on the Rise by 40%

With data costs falling by 95% since 2013, India will see internet users rise by about 40% and number of smartphones to double by 2023, McKinsey said in a report.

It also expects core digital sectors to jump two-fold to $355-435 billion by 2025.

The report ‘Digital India - Technology to Transform a Connection Nation’ by McKinsey Global Institute said the country is one of the largest and fastest-growing markets for digital consumers, with 560 million internet subscribers in 2018, second only to China.

Indian mobile data users consume 8.3 gigabits (GB) of data each month on average, compared with 5.5 GB for mobile users in China and 8-8.5 GB in advanced digital economy of South Korea. Indians have 1.2 billion mobile phone subscriptions and downloaded more apps, 12.3 billion in 2018, than residents of any other country except China.

“Our analysis of 17 mature and emerging economies finds India is digitising faster than any other country in the study, save Indonesia -- and there is plenty of room to grow: just over 40% of the populace has an internet subscription,” it said. While a government push has helped digitise the economy, private sector firms such as Reliance Jio has helped bring down data costs by more than 95% since 2013, it said, adding the cost of one gigabyte fell from 9.8% of per capita monthly GDP in 2013 (roughly $12.45) to 0.37% in 2017 (the equivalent of a few cents).

“Private-sector innovation has helped bring internet-enabled services to millions of consumers and made online usage more accessible.