Mumbai, May 6 (IANS) More children are accessing the Internet than ever before in India and at 38 per cent, school-going children (15 years or below age group) constitute a formidable force when it comes to Internet usage, a new report said on Wednesday.

The report by leading data, insights and consulting company Kantar said that access to information and education, social media, gaming and entertainment, especially, sports are driving the adoption among children.

At 264 million, rural India registered an internet growth at 45 per cent while urban India logged 11 per cent as overall monthly active internet usage crossed 574 million user base in 2019 which is an annual growth of 24 per cent, according to the report titled 'ICUBETM 2019'.

"The new decade is expected to witness the next wave of Digital India aided by the recent COVID-19 pandemic that has catalysed the speed at which the
already connected consumer is getting further connected with devices, payments, e-medicine, etc," said Puneet Avasthi, Senior Director, Insights Division, Kantar.

Mobile is the device of choice as 100 per cent active users browse the internet through mobile devices.

The report projects 11 per cent growth for 2020 and estimates 639 million monthly active Internet users this year.

The internet users in rural India is expected to reach 304 million in 2020.

"Local language and video are the underlying factors for the internet boom in rural. The rural population has finally crossed the point of a chasm by embracing the Internet in a big way, resulting in a 2.5X growth in penetration in the last 4 years," said the report.

Children and housewives will be the new Internet adopters in the next year or two. Most of these users already have Internet at home, and it will be more about breaking the mindset barriers to access the web.

As per the report, about 84 per cent users access the Internet for entertainment purposes.

"The lockdown and social distancing have pushed users experiment with various digital solutions, some of them by desire while others due to compulsion. The year 2020 is likely to see a tectonic shift in both Internet adoption and frequency of usage," said Biswapriya Bhattacharjee, Vice President, Insights Division, Kantar.

--IANS na/