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Nielsen’s Bharat 2.0 Study reveals a 45% growth in Active Internet Users in rural India since 2019

3 minute read | May 2022

Female Active Internet Users grow by a whopping 61% since 2019

Mumbai, India, 5th May 2022: Nielsen, the global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics released its Bharat 2.0 Internet study. The study provides a detailed overview of the penetration of internet usage amongst all active internet users across India along with the trends in browsing on the internet. 

The study reveals that India has 646 million active Internet users aged 2 years and above as of December 2021. Rural India registered a presence of 352 million internet users, which is almost 20% higher than urban. The study also revealed that almost 60% of the rural population is still not actively using the internet, paving headroom for further growth. Urban India on the other hand has registered a 59% penetration growth with 294 million active internet users. 

How are we trending? A look at these numbers for users, 12 years and above

“Availability of budget smartphones and affordable mobile data along with the Indian government’s efforts to strengthen the existing digital infrastructure through compelling initiatives such as Digital India and powered by one of the cheapest data prices in the world enabled by the Telecom companies, have led to enhanced and faster levels of internet adoption across the country”, said Dolly Jha, Managing Director, Nielsen India. “Nielsen’s Bharat 2.0 Study showcases a strong upsurge in the number of female active internet users across rural India, this coupled with rural India’s willingness to adopt technology at a faster pace”. 

Other Trending Activities on the internet (for 12+ years):

Methodology: Bharat 2.0 Study is designed to establish the Internet penetration and user profile for the country. The methodology is composed of face to face systematic stratified random survey across all states and towns/villages. This was carried out from September 2021 to December 2021 covering ~110,000 household members across ~27,900 households 

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Ashish Agarwal

ashish.agarwal@nielsen.com

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