Internet users in India to rise by 40%: Report

With mobile data cost have plummeted by more than 95 percent since 2013, India will see internet users rise by about 40 percent and a number of smartphones to double by 2023, according to a new report by Mckinsey.

The report 'Digital India - Technology to Transform a Connection Nation' by McKinsey said India is already home to one of the world's largest and fastest-growing bases of digital consumers and is digitizing faster than many mature and emerging economies.

The number of smartphones will double to 700 million, it added. The report also expects core digital sectors to grow double to $355-435 billion in the next seven years.

It said India had 560 million internet subscribers in September 2018, second only to China. Digital services are growing in parallel. Indians download more apps-12.3 billion in 2018-than any country except China and spend more time on social media-an average of 17 hours a week-that social media users in China and the United States. The share of Indian adults with at least one digital financial account has more than doubled since 2011, to 80 percent, thanks in large part to the government's mass financial-inclusion program, Jan-Dhan Yojana.

"Our analysis of 17 mature and emerging economies finds India is digitizing faster than any other country in the study, save Indonesia - and there is plenty of room to grow: just over 40 percent of the populace has an internet subscription," it said.

While a government push has helped digitize the economy, private sector firms such as Reliance Jio has helped bring down data costs by more than 95 percent since 2013, it said, adding the cost of one gigabyte fell from 9.8 percent of per capita monthly GDP in 2013 to 0.37 percent in 2017.

The report also pointed out that despite these advances, India has plenty of room to grow. Only about 40 percent of the populace has an internet subscription. While many people have digital bank accounts, 90 percent of all retail transactions in India, by volume, are still made with cash.

E-commerce revenue is growing by more than 25 to 30 percent per year, yet only 5 percent of trade in India is done online, compared with 15 percent in China in 2015. Looking ahead, India's digital consumers are poised for robust growth.