Application of Information and Communication Technology and Its Relation With Urbanization in India

Abstract

In an economic sense, urbanization is a process of transformation of rural economy to modern economy. It is measured by the increase in urban population to total population. In India, urbanization is increasing over the last 100 years. In 1911, urbanization in India was 10.29% which reached to 31.16% in 2011. In 2018, the urban population of India was 460.78 million or 34% of the total population. In the present world, economic growth of an economy is highly dependent on the growth of Information and Communication technology (ICT). The Indian Information Technology (IT) industry also has created an important place in the global IT market. The objective of this chapter is to search for a relationship between urbanization and development of the ICT sector in India. Secondary time series data of urbanization of India have been analyzed for census years from 1951 to 2011. The data on ICT have been taken for the period 2014–2015. The data have been collected from Internet and Mobile Association of India, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Cellular Operations Association of India, and District Information System of Education. For analyzing the development of ICT sector in India the variables taken are e-infrastructure, telephone density per 100 persons, mobile subscribers per 100 persons, mobile subscribers with Internet, schools with computers, and e-participation. Hypothetically, growth of urbanization is expected to develop the ICT sector. From the analysis it comes out that apart from some exceptions, the relatively economically developed and urbanized states of India are found to have a developed ICT sector. Whereas in relatively less urbanized states the development of ICT sectors are not up to the mark.

Citation

Kanjilal, M. (2021), "Application of Information and Communication Technology and Its Relation With Urbanization in India", Bhattacharyya, R. (Ed.) Comparative Advantage in the Knowledge Economy, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 251-260. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-040-520210022