Industry body report says Maharashtra most internet friendly state

New Delhi: Maharashtra is the most prepared state to bring its residents and businesses online followed by Karnataka and Gujarat, Telengana and Tamil Nadu, found a new report released on Monday by industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Indicus Analytics.

The findings are based on an Internet Readiness index that is a composite of components including e-infrastructure, e-participation, information technology (IT) services and e-governance services offered by the state.

Internet readiness doesn’t only indicate how industry-friendly each state is for investment in the IT sector, but also presents a holistic picture of the digital ecosphere that exists in the states.

While Maharashtra has claimed the top spot in Internet readiness index among the large states, Delhi has emerged as the top state among the smaller ones, followed by Puducherry and Goa.

North-eastern states are the least ready to be connected, said the report.

“ Even in the smaller states, the northeastern States do not figure among the top three. Therefore, much more needs to be done in the form of investment and infrastructure development in the region,” the report said.

Among the Union Territories, Chandigarh is ranked top in terms of the Internet readiness index.

The performance of the states based on internet readiness index depends on several factors.

For instance, in Maharashtra, though e-infrastructure is relatively low compared than that of Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat, yet the state surpasses others in all other components making it the best e-Ready society.

This is also evident by the fact that the state won a $5-billion deal from Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd, also known as Foxconn, in August last year. The company will invest the money in setting up manufacturing facilities across the state over a five- year period.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.