India's online population to touch 500 million by 2020: Google

September 15, 2016 15:31

With the advent of affordable smartphones and growing reach of internet across the country, India's online population will reach 500 million by 2020, Google's Asia Pacific Language Head, Richa Singh Chitranshi said.

"India's online population will reach 500 million by 2020 with majority of them being local language users," Chitranshi said while addressing IT students at Rajiv Gandhi Proayogiki (Technology) Vishwavidyalaya in Bhopal.

The event was jointly organised by RGPV and MPPOST, an online portal, on Wednesday.

Speaking about the future and present of the internet Chitranshi said it was mainly due to availability of affordable smartphones and data packs that have enabled millions in Indians to go online.

She also informed that today over 65 per cent of India surf the internet through their phones with majority of the new users accessing it for the first time through phones.

"Interestingly, not all of them are English speaking users," Richa said.

She said out of the 350 million, 150 million internet users are only comfortable with local language and those users will form the majority of the online population in India.

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