New Delhi: Although almost all of India’s adult population has access to 4G services and a vast majority are able to use mobile phones, less than half of the population can send or receive an email, and only a little more than a third can use online banking, according to a survey released by the government.
The Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey (CAMS) 2022-23 was conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) from July 2022 to June 2023, covering over three lakh households across the country.
It found that about 86.5 percent of the respondents above the age of 15 were able to use mobile phones (including smartphones) and 99.7 percent of the population used 4G mobile technology or higher versions. It further said that 59.8 percent of the population is able to use the Internet.
The survey showed a big rural-urban gap in the ability to use the Internet, with only 53.6 percent of people being able to operate it in rural areas. The percentage stands at 74 percent in urban areas.
Further, while about 95 percent of the survey respondents possessed a landline or a mobile phone, only 9.9 percent had a desktop or laptop, the data showed. As for banking penetration, the data showed that 94.6 percent of the respondents have a bank account, either individually or jointly held.
However, this penetration of Internet services, devices and bank accounts has not translated into basic knowhow of using Internet services. The data, for instance, showed that just 43.4 percent of the respondents could send or receive an email. Troublingly, this proportion was not much higher—at 49.5 percent—among respondents aged 15-24 years.
The percentage of people who are unable to send or receive emails is 54.3 percent in urban areas and 36.9 percent in rural areas.
Further, only about 38 percent of the population aged 15 years and above can perform online banking transactions, the survey showed. This becomes more stark in rural India, where only 30 percent can perform such transactions. Notably, only a little more than half (52 percent) of the urban youth—those aged between 15-24 years—can perform an online banking transaction.
Seen together, only 30 percent of the Indian population aged 15 and above can search for information on the Internet, send or receive emails, and perform online banking transactions simultaneously, the survey showed.
86% Indian Internet users streamed OTT content in 2023
A report by US-based management consultant firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) released in India in February also noted that the first access to Internet for most of the population has skipped the usual desktop phase, unlike in developed countries.
“Users leapfrogged directly to mobiles, due to the affordability of smartphones and the availability of cheap data,” the report said.
The BCG report added that while daily time spent by Indian users on smartphones increased from two hours in 2010 to 4.9 hours in 2023, content streaming was the most predominant activity, accounting for over 50 percent of the share of time spent on phones. This was followed by social media and search. It found that only three to four percent of the time was spent on activities related to online banking, trading/investing and payments.
Similarly, a February 2024 report, published by Mumbai-based industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India and London-based research firm Kantar, noted that about 86 percent of Internet users in India streamed OTT (over-the-top) content in 2023.
Other activities done using the Internet included communication (76 percent), social media (70 percent), online gaming (53 percent), net commerce (52 percent) and digital payments (45 percent).
While net commerce, digital payments and online learning are more urban-centric activities, errands such as OTT, communication, social media and online gaming are more democratised, it said.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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