India to have 120 crore Internet users by 2026: Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, August 2
Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Wednesday said India would have 120 crore internet users by 2026, powered by a robust and clean telecom sector that is growing and aiding India’s rise towards becoming a USD 5 trillion dollar economy by 2026.
Speaking to the media as part of the ruling BJP’s election campaign on ‘UPA’s lost decade versus India’s Techade’, the minister said the UPA is in a tearing hurry to erase its past by rebranding itself.
“UPA wants everyone to forget its past and how it ran riot for 10 years…Well, the nation will not forget. You can rebrand but reality won’t change. Democratic debate is about facts, not fiction. Also, in a democracy the opposition has the fundamental right to be delusional as much as they have the fundamental right to free speech,” Chandrasekhar said articulating the government’s strategy to continue to refer to the new INDIA opposition alliance as the UPA.
The minister said in UPA’s lost decade between 2004 and 2014, “when you talked about telecom you essentially talked only about scams like 2G and crony capitalism.
“New terms were invented such as first-come-first-served instead of tenders. Today India is the fastest growing telecom connected nation in the world. We have on multiple occasions auctioned spectrum, created licences with transparency and every rupee gained from spectrum auction has been deployed in expansion of the government’s social schemes.”
He said there was no reason why the current four telecom companies would not find fertile ground to grow in a fast expanding internet market of the country.
Currently telecom accounts for 11 per cent of the GDP which is estimated to rise to 26 per cent by 2026.
Drawing a distinction between UPA’s 10 years and NDA’s nine (2014 to 2023), the minister cited the following points.
“Apart from the fact that at the UPA time telecom was all about scams unlike today when it is all about clean and healthy growth. The second sharp difference is the flight of foreign investors under UPA. Today due to ease of business, a stable investor with positive sentiment is adding to growing market capitalisation,” he said.
Chandrasekhar said that under UPA 85 per cent mobile devices and 100 per cent equipment was imported, whereas “today we are exporting mobiles”.
The minister also flashed three personal mobiles he carries, all made in India.
He said that today consumers do not have to worry about drop calls unlike in the “last decade”.
Starting today, as part of a government and ruling BJP election campaign, Union ministers will be rolling out statistics to contrast ‘UPA and NDA’.
