India to reach 500 million internet users this June

The number of Internet users in India will hit 500 million by June 2018, India’s Hindustan Times reported.

Mobile phones will emerge as the preferred device for online shopping by 2020, accounting for 70 percent of total online shopping, predicted experts at the seventh edition of the India Internet Day in the South Asian nation’s capital of New Delhi.

The meet saw participation from over 500 internet enthusiasts from across the second-most populous country in the world, brought together to go beyond prosaic and unravel the gamut of opportunities the sector presents, the report said. The conference was hosted by the country’s largest network of successful entrepreneurs and professionals TiE Delhi-NCR, as part of its seventh edition of India Internet Day in the capital. 

By 2020, India will have an estimated 702 million smartphone users, accounting for nearly 70 percent of total online shopping.

Image credit: Garry Knight via Flickr / CC BY 2.0

“With the seventh edition of India Internet Day, we kept a sharp focus on how the entrepreneurs should tap into the emerging user base that hails from the corners of the country,” Geetika Dayal, Executive Director, TiE Delhi-NCR said. The conversations at the event were weaved around the third wave of internet users, their requirements, consumption patterns and the ways in which startups can tap into this potential user base.”

"We also focused on the nuances that the startups need to keep in mind to reach out to the next 300 million users," Dayal noted. The convention organizers also determined that by 2020, India will have an estimated 702 million smartphone users, predominantly using their devices for online shopping.