India to have over 850 mn online users by 2025: BCG

India is expected to have more than 850 million online users by 2025, driven by availability and adoption of faster connections and more capable devices, a report by Boston Consulting Group said today.

"It took nearly eight years for India's mobile market to reach 250 million 3G connections, but the country's Reliance Jio 4G network added 100 million connections in just seven months," the report said.

By 2020, half of all Internet users will be rural. Also, 40 per cent users will be women, while 33 per cent are expected to be aged 35 years or older, it added.

"Digital's impact is becoming pervasive across all consumer segments. India's initial digital consumers were male, millennial, and mostly metro-based. The future looks very different," BCG said.

The group further said devices today are a mix of smartphones (with 3G or better connections) and feature phones with primarily 2G connections.

However, this trend is now towards faster connections and more capable devices, it added.

The more digitally mature people are, they do more activities when they are online. As a consequence, digital influence on purchases and actual digital commerce are both increasing, the report noted.

From 2014 through 2016, the number of online buyers rose seven-fold to between 80 million and 90 million.

"Digitally influenced spending, currently USD 45-50 billion a year, is projected to increase more than ten-fold, to between USD 500-550 billion — and to account for 30-35 per cent of all retail sales — by 2025," it said.