In 2004 one Indian in fifty used the internet. Today seven in ten do, on phones, on data that costs less than a cup of tea per gigabyte.
The climb
From one in fifty online to seven in ten
Share of people using the internet, India, the world and the peer panel. Tap or hover a line.
India took ten years to reach 13% and then nearly quintupled that in the next decade. It has almost closed the gap with the world average, 70% against 74% in 2025, and is now ahead of every South Asian neighbour.
Source: World Bank WDI (International Telecommunication Union), May 2026 release.
The price collapse
Data became 97% cheaper and use rose 300 times
Average cost of 1 GB of mobile data (rupees, log scale) and data used per subscriber per month
The fall came in one burst. A new operator launched free 4G in September 2016, and within three years the price of a gigabyte had fallen from ₹76 to under ₹9. Monthly use per subscriber went from 62 megabytes in 2014 to 18 gigabytes in 2023.
Source: TRAI data via FactChecker (2014–2021) and Ministry of Communications (June 2024); Department of Economic Affairs monthly review (consumption).
Mobile first
India skipped the fixed line and went straight to the phone
Subscriptions per 100 people, India
Mobile subscriptions rose from under 5 to about 80 per 100 people. Fixed broadband never took off: about 3 lines per 100 people in 2024. Almost all of India’s internet runs over mobile networks, which serve video and payments well and long working hours less well.
Source: World Bank WDI (ITU). Mobile subscriptions dipped after 2019 as users dropped second SIM cards.
Subscribers
Internet subscriptions nearly quadrupled in ten years
Internet and broadband subscriptions, crore (10 million)
Subscriptions count connections, not people. One person may hold two. Even so, the scale is vast: about 97 crore internet subscriptions in mid-2024 and 100 crore broadband connections by November 2025.
Source: Ministry of Communications via All India Radio (December 2024); TRAI via TelecomTalk (November 2025).
Against the peer panel
Ahead of South Asia, behind East Asia and Morocco
Share of people using the internet, latest year
China and Morocco are above 90%, Vietnam 84%. Ghana and Indonesia are level with India. Every South Asian neighbour is behind.
Source: World Bank WDI (ITU). Latest year is 2024 or 2025 except Myanmar (2020).
Who is left out
Women are 14 points behind men online, a wider gap than in any East Asian peer
Share of women and men using the internet, latest year. Tap or tap or hover for detail.
In India 63% of women and 77% of men are online. Bangladesh’s gap is 7 points, Indonesia’s 6, Vietnam’s 4 and China’s almost none. The gap has widened from 10 points in 2018, because men came online faster than women.
Source: World Bank WDI (ITU), latest year per country; India 2025.
Selling to the world
The world’s second-largest exporter of computer services
Computer, communications and IT service exports, US$ billion. India over time and the top ten exporters in 2023.
India’s software and IT service exports grew more than tenfold, to $178 billion in 2024. Only Ireland, home to the European headquarters of American tech firms, exports more.
Source: World Bank WDI, ICT service exports (balance of payments, current US$).
Switched off
The democracy that shuts down the internet most often
Internet shutdowns ordered in India each year, as counted by Access Now
India led the world in shutdowns for six straight years until 2024, when Myanmar, under military rule, ordered 85 to India’s 84. Manipur, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir account for most. A connected country is also one where the state has learned to disconnect it.
Source: Access Now, #KeepItOn annual reports, via Sabrang India and The Wire (2024 figures).
Contested numbers
Three numbers that need a second look
Source: World Bank WDI; FactChecker, review of a Coal Ministry claim; TRAI.
