Internet User Increment: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over the reins of power in the country, he had promised to make cities smart i.e. smart cities. Its effect was also visible in urban development. But on the other hand, a report to rural areas has come out which is confirming that the villages of India are smarter than the cities.
Actually, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and CANTA have released a report. This report states that the number of internet users in India has increased four times more in rural areas than in cities. Its second meaning is that Indian villages are moving rapidly on the road of Digital India.
Internet users increased by 8 percent in a year
Last year, the number of internet users in India increased by 8%, taking the number to 958 million. The credit for this growth goes to increasing internet penetration in rural areas, popularity of short-form videos and increasing use of artificial intelligence. While internet growth in urban areas was 3%, in rural areas it was much higher at 12%.
Internet users have doubled in the last 6 years
| Year | Total | urban | Rural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 57.4 | 30.9 | 26.4 |
| 2020 | 62.2 | 32.3 | 29.9 |
| 2021 | 69.2 | 34.1 | 35.1 |
| 2022 | 75.9 | 36.0 | 39.9 |
| 2023 | 82.1 | 37.8 | 44.2 |
| 2024 | 88.6 | 39.7 | 48.8 |
| 2025 | 95.8 | 41.0 | 54.8 |
For what purpose do you use the internet?
- 44% of users use AI-enabled features, such as voice image search.
- 61% of users watch short-video 170 content, among which the number of rural users is more than urban users.
- 56% of urban users mainly use the internet for online shopping.
- 20% of internet users use internet on more than one device like phone-laptop.
55 crore villagers use internet
Even if these figures are seen in terms of population, a big change is visible. Because out of 153.7 crore population of the country, about 55 crore people of rural population use the internet. Between 2019 and 2025, the number of rural users has increased by more than 100 percent from 264 million to 548 million.
User growth rate decreased year on year
| Year | Total | urban | Rural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 11% | 24% | 45% |
| 2020 | 4% | 8% | 13% |
| 2021 | 5% | 11% | 18% |
| 2022 | 6% | 10% | 14% |
| 2023 | 5% | 8% | 11% |
| 2024 | 5% | 8% | 10% |
| 2025 | 3% | 8% | 12% |
Government will provide AVGC training in schools and colleges
However, the growth in internet users has decreased in the last few years. But more such increase may be seen in the coming days. Because this time the Finance Minister has said in the budget speech that India’s Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector is growing rapidly and by 2030 it will require about 20 lakh professionals. Therefore, it is very important to provide training to students in this field at school and college level.
The General Budget 2026-27 proposes to help the Institute of Creative Technologies set up AVGC Content Creator Labs in 15,000 schools and 500 colleges. In these labs, students will be taught skills like animation, game design, video editing, VFX and digital storytelling.
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