Covid-19 has potential to accelerate digital adoption in India: Report

The report found a huge jump in Internet usage, with over 40% of the surveyed population saying they spent more than two hours a day on the Internet in the lockdown months

India has seen a surge in Internet penetration in the last few years, but the online shopping base still remains small. The Covid-19 outbreak has the potential to accelerate digital adoption, according to a survey (AlphaWise survey) by Morgan Stanley Research. The survey was conducted in July 2020 among 1,540 active Internet users across the top 50 tier-I and tier-II cities in India. 

It found a huge jump in Internet usage, with over 40 per cent of the surveyed population saying they spent more than two hours a day on the Internet in the lockdown months. The graph also shows that the Internet data usage jumped to 25,400 million GB in Q1FY21, from 22,900 million GB in the previous quarter. Also, with the gradual lifting of the lockdown, the number of unique visitors to e-commerce sites moderated across e-commerce and food delivery websites.