India will have have 236 million mobile Internet users by 2016

With China’s mobile growth starting to slow down, all eyes are turning to India as the next burgeoning mobile market to take advantage of. According to a statement released by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the number of active Internet users in the country has increased by more than 50 million in the past sixth months, and has reached an all-time high of 350 million, 60% of which accessed the Internet through a mobile device. This means India is on track to have 236 million mobile Internet users by the end of the year.

India has officially reached a benchmark of 350 million active internet users, according to a statement released yesterday by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). That’s an increase of over 50 million new users in the past six months. Of the 350 million, the IAMAI reported that 60 percent accessed the internet through mobile phones. According to the report done in collaboration with KPMG, India is projected to have 236 million mobile internet users by 2016. The number is likely to reach 314 million by 2017. This is the current landscape as shown in an infographic from We Are Social. Facebook is the social media site that Indians visit most. Second is Facebook-owned WhatsApp. The third place for Google+ looks dubious and may be based on unusual ways of interacting with Google+ features, such as giving an app a “+1” in Google Play or signing up to make YouTube comments. There are 976 million mobile subscriptions in India. Logically, this would mean that 76% of Indians have mobile subscriptions.