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A life in India · 9 evidence records
Connected life
Who owns a phone, connects to the internet or enrols online?
Explore the ten life stagesHow to read these figures
A household with internet is different from a person owning a phone. Smartphone ownership conditional on mobile ownership has a narrower denominator.
AISHE regular, distance and online refer to programme modes. Regular does not mean that a student never studies online; online mode does not count every learner using the internet.
1 Cr = 1,00,00,000 · 1 lakh = 1,00,000. Percentages, years, daily flows and rupees keep their own units. Showing full digits does not increase the source’s precision.
2023–24
Higher education enrolment in regular mode
3.97 Cr
students
Full figure: 3,96,64,479 students
88.14% of AISHE estimated total enrolment, same report · derived
AISHE higher education enrolment classified by mode; regular series includes estimation
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
Male
1.99 Cr
Female
1.98 Cr
What this measures: AISHE higher education enrolment classified by mode; regular series includes estimation
Regular mode does not mean no digital/online resources used. Distinct from distance/private/online programme classification.
What this measures: All households represented by CMS Telecom 2025
Household possession does not establish that each member personally owns or can independently use a smartphone. Rural and urban figures are calculated by adding mutually exclusive categories printed to one decimal; rounding is retained.
Official source ↗ · Statement 13, printed page 24 / PDF page 35; smartphone-only plus both-phone-types categories. National headline also in the 29 May PIB release.
Evidence reviewed 2026-10-11.
January–March 2025
People aged 15+ who personally own a mobile phone
70.2%
People aged 15 and above represented by the survey
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
Rural, all sexes
64.6%
Urban, all sexes
81.2%
India, male
83.9%
India, female
56.2%
What this measures: People aged 15 and above represented by the survey
Includes smartphones and other mobile phones. Ownership requires a device with an active SIM for personal use and does not require registration in the individual’s name. A shared phone is assigned using the majority-use rule.
Official source ↗ · Statement 2, printed page 7 / PDF page 18; Appendix A Table 2, printed A15 / PDF page 54
Evidence reviewed 2026-10-11.
January–March 2025
Households with internet access within their premises
86.3%
All households represented by CMS Telecom 2025
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
Rural
83.3%
Urban
91.6%
India
86.3%
What this measures: All households represented by CMS Telecom 2025
Includes access using a mobile network; this is not fixed broadband penetration or the proportion of individuals who used the internet.
Official source ↗ · Statement 14, printed page 24 / PDF page 35; Appendix A Table 14, A98–A100 / PDF pages 137–139
Evidence reviewed 2026-10-11.
January–March 2025
People aged 15+ who used the internet in the preceding three months
70%
People aged 15 and above represented by the survey
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
India, male
76.7%
India, female
63.1%
What this measures: People aged 15 and above represented by the survey
At least one use from any location, on any device and for any purpose; not daily use, paid subscription or independent access.
Young people aged 15–29 who used the internet in the preceding three months
93.6%
People aged 15–29 represented by the survey
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
Rural
92.7%
Urban
95.7%
India
93.6%
What this measures: People aged 15–29 represented by the survey
An age-specific rate. It must not be relabelled as the share of all Indians using the internet. We use 93.6% from the report’s age-specific tables. The accompanying PIB summary gives 94.3% for ages 15–29; the detailed report gives 94.3% for ages 15–24. The figures shown here follow Statement 3 and Appendix A Table 3.
Official source ↗ · Statement 3, printed page 8 / PDF page 19; Figure 3.1, printed page 9 / PDF page 20; official PIB release key highlights
Evidence reviewed 2026-10-11.
January–March 2025
Mobile-phone owners aged 15+ who own a smartphone
81.9%
People aged 15+ who personally own any mobile phone, represented by CMS Telecom
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
Rural
77.9%
Urban
88%
India
81.9%
What this measures: People aged 15+ who personally own any mobile phone, represented by CMS Telecom
Conditional on already owning a mobile phone: the denominator is mobile-phone owners aged 15+, not all people aged 15+ or all residents. Calculated by adding the source’s mutually exclusive smartphone-only and both-phone-types categories: India 79.9 + 2.0 = 81.9; rural 76.0 + 1.9 = 77.9; urban 85.9 + 2.1 = 88.0. Inputs are rounded survey estimates. The three India categories sum to 100.1 because of rounding. No number of smartphone owners or whole-population rate has been inferred.
Official source ↗ · Statement 2.1, printed page 8 / PDF page 19, age 15+ row; smartphone and both columns
Does household smartphone access mean personal ownership?
No. A household possession figure uses households as its denominator, and one device may be shared. Personal ownership, internet use and access are different measures. Distance education is not automatically equivalent to online study.