Rural India remains beyond reach of Internet: study

Barely one percent of rural Indians use the Internet, a new study has calculated, despite a rapid recent boom in web access across the country.

About 5.4 million of an estimated 570 million rural Indians are active Internet users, said the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Rural Internet use has jumped by 30 percent since 2008, while 85 percent of those people in agricultural areas who log on to the web use it to send emails.

About 13 percent said they used the Internet to learn more about the latest farming techniques, the study released on Tuesday said.