Internet Penetration in Rural India

Internet is now very popular with people from the urban centers, but this trend is in sharp contrast to the rural population in India. According to a research jointly conducted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB, it was found that about 84% of rural India is not aware of the Internet. Why is there such a huge divide? The pertinent question is how this could be bridged?

Under the Scanner

As per our latest round of primary research, claimed Internet userswho have ever used Internet in rural villagesgrew from 5.5 mn in 2008 to 6.46 mn in 2009, a 17% increase in a year. This figure is not high considering the large population base in villages. To push this growth, concerted efforts in facilitating the adoption are needed, says Dr Subho Ray, president, IAMAI.

Lack of awareness is one of the major hindrances in Internet penetration, while 38% of the population does not feel the need to surf the Internet. Even lack of infrastructure like electricity and improper Internet connection has deterred Internet penetration. About 31% of rural population does not have Internet access points, 25% population has no Internet connection, and about 22% has no electricity.

Currently, common service centers (CSCs) and cybercafs serve as the primary mode of accessing Internet in rural areas. More than 70% of the rural population access Internet through CSCs and cybercafs. This reveals the need to improve the infrastructure with Government of Indias schemes like common service centers and state wide area network (SWAN) scheme.

There is less likelihood of rural citizens owning personal computers, so they rely on the facilities provided by either public or private entities. To support this behavior, public and private initiatives could be an effective solution. However, in addition to the accessibility, targeted and niche services and content needs to be provisioned too.

Helping Hands

Public sector initiatives under NeGP such as SWAN and CSC have been set up as core infrastructure, necessary to support Internet access. CSC scheme has demonstrated incredible progress over the years. Currently, CSCs/cybercafs are the main access points for the rural population. CSCs are likely to become the main access points for people in rural India, says Dr Ray.

Apart from the government enabling the access, there have also been private players like Comat Technologies which have played an instrumental role. The company claims to have reached 10 mn rural people through a network of over 2,000 business centers. Private organizations such as ITC, Microsoft, HUL, Google, etc, also deserve full scores.

ITCs e-Choupal initiative has been able to reach out to over 4 mn farmers through 6,500 kiosks, and in the process reaches over 40,000 villages. The initiative has helped to grow a range of crops including soybean, coffee, wheat, rice, and pulses. It provides useful information about the weather as well as the market price of the food grains, so that the farmers are not exploited. HULs Project Shakti caters to 135,000 villages across 15 states, and now has 45,000 women entrepreneurs. HULs Project Shakti and its I-Shakti community portal have played a pivotal role in increasing Internet penetration among women in rural India. Both e-Choupal and Project Shakti have been notable initiatives by the private sector that have inspired other enterprises to invest in rural India.

These projects have been running in India for about a decade now. Apart from that within the last two years, newer initiatives as Googles Internet Bus project have also helped in increasing Internet awareness.

These initiatives can be described as early attempts towards enabling rural citizens for improved information access. With such a large population, the spread of the Internet adoption has to be expansive enough to establish the fact that the medium is being adopted.

The Road Ahead

From 5% in 2000 to 36% in 2009, Internet has surely made an impact in the lives of people in small towns. Given the continuous growth of Internet users over the years, the smaller towns have exceeded top 8 metros in the Internet usage. This clearly indicates that the Internet has reached to remote masses in urban India. Increasing number of cyber cafs and government initiatives of e-kiosks has created interest among small town people, says Dr Ray.

The presence of the Internet is widespread. However, given the limited numbers it falls short of being an all inclusive medium. Internet is gradually penetrating among lower SEC classes. SEC C, D, and E jointly account for 35% of the Internet user population which is more than SEC Aan encouraging sign towards wider adoption of this medium. The share of SEC B has remained constant over the years. Such leaps can be attributed to higher literacy rates, easy availability, and affordability of Internet access. Though lower classes form considerable part of the Internet users, penetration among them is still low given that there is a high population base in these classes compared to top SECs. Internet surely has a long way to go to make an impact in their lives, Dr Ray further adds.

With the Government of India making primary education a fundamental right, literacy in rural areas will rise at a faster rate. With increased literacy, there will be greater number of people who will be aware of computers and be PC literate.

On a Final Note

While the Internet medium has established itself in the urban cities and metros, citizens in rural villages are still in the process of being aware of the medium. To ensure that the Internet is spread across the rural regions of the country, multi-faceted cohesive efforts need to be introduced. Such efforts are only possible if all the factors that support digital interactions such as devices, connectivity, and content are provided to suit their specific requirements.

Shilpa Shanbhag
shilpas@cybermedia.co.in