PYMNTS Daily Data Dive: India’s Mobile Youth

Young adults in India are using their smartphones for shopping online at an increasing rate. According to eMarketer, it’s expected that younger generations in India will help drive the number of smartphone users in the country to 267.1 million this year — a 19.5 percent increase over 2016.

A recent survey of adult smartphone owners under 35 in India conducted by digital marketing firm Regalix revealed that 83 percent of respondents used their mobile device to shop online. But just 28 percent of this group actually made a weekly purchase using their device.

The survey also showed that adults in India have a strong preference for using mobile apps, with 94 percent expressing that apps were more convenient than mobile websites. India’s eCommerce market is expected to generate $120 billion worth of revenue by the end of the decade, four times the value of today’s market.

India’s population is skewing younger — 70 percent of the population are under age 35. The online retail market in that country could grow nearly 30 percent to be worth as much as $63 billion by 2020. By 2034, the market could be worth more than $2 trillion.

Here are the numbers:

267.1 million | Estimated smartphone users in India through 2017

19.5 percent | Year-over-year increase in smartphone users in India from 2016

83 percent | Percentage of Indians ages 35 and younger who have shopped on mobile devices

28 percent | Percentage of Indians ages 35 and younger who make weekly mobile purchases

94 percent | Number who prefer mobile apps to mobile sites

$120 billion | Projected revenue generated by India’s eCommerce market by 2020

70 percent | Percentage of India’s population who are ages 35 and younger

30 percent, $63 billion | Projected growth and value of India’s online retail market by 2020

$2 trillion | Projected value of India’s online retail market by 2034