After witnessing single-digit growth rate last year, the trend of dwindling growth of Internet user base in India is set to continue for this year too.
The internet user growth in all likelihood is set to go down in comparison to last year, according to Subho Ray, president, IAMAI. Last year, the growth rate was almost 4% down from its previous year, which had registered a 12% growth rate. This year it is estimated to be even less than 8%.
The number of active online shoppers is about 10% of the current internet user base of around 500 million, added Ray.
In August, the IAMAI will come out with the final figure.
Meanwhile, the growth of digital commerce users is also stagnant. In this segment also, people are mainly attracted to cashback. Non-cashback driven initiative has less active users as compared to cashback driven ones.
According to IAMAI, digital payment users are close to 24% of total internet users, reported ET.
This is largely due to a couple of factors.
For many, the internet is still an expensive bet. There are many people in the rural area who don’t any reason to convert to smartphones as they find operating them more complicated.
The lack of vernacular content and limited understanding of the internet is also a challenge. English is still dominating in terms of the available content on the Internet.
People still like watching videos than utilising mobile internet. The new internet users need to be educated.
According to Google-AT Kearney report, by the end of next year, there would around 175 million online shoppers in India.
The final figure will be released by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) in mid-August.
