he use of internet may be an urban phenomenon, but only 27 per cent of India’s urban population admits to have accessed the medium at some point in time. The number of those accessing the worldwide web routinely is just a tiny fraction – 7 per cent – of the total urban population. And, if the numbers are rising fast, it is the smaller towns that are showing the way, with the likes of Kolhapur, Bellary, Thrissur and Panipat having more internet users than the top eight metros put together.
A largescale annual study on internet usage patterns across urban India, conducted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), has revealed that of the 71 million “claimed” internet users in the country, 36 per cent, or around 26 million, are from towns with less than five lakh population.
On the other hand, the top eight metros – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad – account for 34 per cent, or 24 million, of the total Net users.
Cities with more than 10 lakh population, like Patna, Kochi, Baroda, Ludhiana, Coimbatore, Nagpur and Surat, house around 13 million internet users, says the study by IAMAI, the industry body that tracks internet and usage patterns in the country.
“Claimed” internet users are those who claim to have accessed the