Delhi beats all states in internet readiness

Delhi has emerged as the top ranked state in terms of overall internet readiness, overtaking last year’s winner Maharashtra

Delhi takes the first slot not only among small states and Union territories but also when all states are taken together. The capital city-state is followed by Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Delhi gets this rank primarily because of its fabulous e-infrastructure and e-participation, according to ‘Index of Internet Readiness of Indian States’ report, published by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Nielsen.

Among the smaller states and Union territories, Delhi is followed by Chandigarh and Puducherry. Chandigarh is ranked second in both e-infrastructure and e-participation. Puducherry is ranked after Chandigarh when measured on the e-infrastructure index.

Significantly, even within smaller states, the north-eastern states (excluding Nagaland) ranked low in terms of overall Internet readiness. “Therefore, much more needs to be done in the form of investment and infrastructure development in the region,” says the IAMAI-Nielsen report.

Among the north-eastern states, Nagaland tops the list, closely followed by Manipur and Tripura. Nagaland leads in IT (information technology) environment and performs moderately well in other categories to get to the top.

Karnataka, Delhi and Maharashtra are the top three states with the highest number of digital startups. Of the total 242 startup incubators in the country, 61 startup incubators are in Tamil Nadu.

About 83% of these incubators are in 10 states—Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana, Gujarat, West Bengal, Delhi and Rajasthan.

Internet readiness index is a composite benchmark of four components— e-Infrastructure index, e-participation index, IT environment and government e-services index. All four components have equal weightage in this model.

“Separately, a fifth Index (named the Core Internet Index) was created this year, consisting of select variables already used in constructing the above indices. The purpose of the index is to give a sharper perspective for digital industries looking to expand their business in Indian states,” the report said.