Industry Overview

TRAI had pegged Internet subscribers in India at 238.71 million as of 31 December 2013. Maharashtra
has the largest Internet subscribers at 38.78 million followed by Uttar Pradesh (22.90 million), Tamil
Nadu (19.65 million), Gujarat (17.92 million) and Andhra Pradesh (17.07 million) with 7 out of 8
accessing the Internet from their mobile phones. In Mumbai, there are about 6.2 Million Active internet
Users.
According to a recent IAMAI report, Mumbai has the highest penetration of Internet users in India
with more than 12 million Internet users. The city has seen a growth of 45 percent mainly driven by
easy internet access through smartphones.
According to a statement by Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Delhi comes in second
with 8.1 million Internet users and Hyderabad third with 4.7 million Internet users. Chennai is fourth
with 4.5 million internet users and Kolkata fifth with 4.4 million internet users in the country.
Kolkata registered the highest growth of Internet users with 47 per cent year-on-year growth,
followed by Mumbai with 45 per cent y-o-y growth and Bangalore with 43 percent y-o-y growth.
The report added that the growth in Internet users in metros like Mumbai is driven by increasing
access to the internet among lower income groups, students and housewives. IAMAI conducted the
survey on 77,000 households across 35 cities in India. The study focused on cities with over one
million (2001 census) population. The survey includes people from all income groups, chosen
randomly.

Nilotpal Chakravarti, associate vice-president, IAMAI stated, "Easy access to internet on mobile
phones has resulted in greater internet penetration across India, with smartphones available at a
range of prices. Most phones now have internet. Many features on these phones will not be
available without internet."
"Those who began using the net several years ago will not stop doing so today, and have continued
using the internet over the years. The growth in internet users is because of new users belonging to
lower income groups," says Chakravarti.
India has become the third largest internet population according to a recent comScore study. India
has now more than 73.9 million internet users and has seen a y-o-y growth of 31% this year.