India constitutes 12% of global internet users: Meeker's report

Out of an estimated 7.7 billion world population, almost half of them, 3.8 billion, are today on the Internet, said an annual report on internet trends by venture capitalist Mary Meeker.

The report showed internet users divided into five regions. The Asia Pacific contributed the most number of internet users, 53% of the global population, followed by Europe and Africa.

China has the most number of internet users with almost 21% of global users. India was placed at number second with almost 12% internet users (close to 455 million) on global internet users chart.

This is almost 27% rise in terms of internet penetrations in the last nine years. Though, the report noted slow yearly internet user growth after 2016.

Meeker, in the report, also marked slowed growth in, e-commerce sales, increased internet ad spending, data growth, the rise of freemium subscription business models and the on-demand economy among many other things.

In the first quarter of 2019, e-comm sales went up 12.4% to make up 15% of total retail, it added. Smartphone shipments had gone down 4% last year after not registering any noticeable growth in 2018.

The rapid rise of analyzed digital data is often core to the holistic success of the fastest growing companies of our time around the world, said Meeker. Context-rich data can help businesses provide consumers with increasingly personalized products & services that can often be obtained at lower prices & delivered more efficiently, she added.

The report further emphasises the rise in the usage of images and video in communication. It also said that removing offensive and violent content would continue to pose as a challenge in the coming years.

On an average in India every year, close to 40 million people are joining internet bandwagon. As per last Google report, India is witnessing the fastest growth in numbers of online users to 650 million in one year time.

The internet usage and growth will be majorly driven by non-metro cities, which are fastly catching up with metros, the report had said.