India has been ranked 131 out of 167 countries by the ICT Development Index of the International Telecommunication Union, which measures countries according to their level of ICT (information, communication and technology) access, use and skills. Although India has made tremendous progress in raising its telecom density, the country remains far behind when it comes to providing internet access.

The ITU report, Measuring the Information Society, said that 3.2 billion people are now online, or 43.4% of the global population. In contrast, only 18% Indians have access to the internet. Worldwide, 7.1 billion people are covered by a mobile-cellular signal. By the end of this year, 46% of households globally will have internet access at home, up from 44% last year and just 30% in 2010. In India, 15.3% of households have internet access.

Six economies in the region – including the South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan – have IDI rankings in the top twenty of the global distribution.  However, the region also includes ten of the Index’s least connected countries, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

South Korea is ranked at the top of IDI which is a composite measurement that ranks 167 countries according to their level of ICT access, use and skills.  South Korea is closely followed by Denmark and Iceland, in second and third place.

The percentage of households with computer in India was 13 per cent in 2014, more than doubling from 6. 1 per cent in 2010, while the percentage of households with Internet access was 15.33, growing three-fold from 4.2 in 2010. Further the percentage of individuals using the Internet is grew to 18 per cent in 2014 from 7.5 per cent in 2010 in the country.

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