Delhi has emerged as the top-ranked state in terms of “internet readiness” due to better e-infrastructure and e-participation, a joint study said on Wednesday.

According to the report, titled ‘Index of Internet Readiness of Indian States’ by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Nielsen, the capital city is followed by Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

“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 amongst small states and union territories but also when all states are taken together,” the joint study said.

The Internet readiness index is a composite benchmark of four components — e-infrastructure index, e-participation index, IT-environment and government e-services index — with all four components having equal weightage in the model, the report explained.

“Separately, a fifth Index (named the Core Internet Index) has been 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.

Secretary of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTy) Aruna Sundararajan said: “We are hopeful that India will leapfrog from the present 155th position to world’s top fifth in connectivity, within the next 5-6 years.”

“India today is one of the most rapidly digitising economies in the world with the telecom industry leading the change. Things have improved multi-fold with state governments of Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana among others taking proactive steps to improve connectivity and internet reach,” she added.

The report, which also measured the digital start-up ecosystem of states, revealed that Karnataka, Delhi and Maharashtra are the top three states with the highest number of digital start-ups.

The report further highlighted the performance of the states regarding different measures of Internet readiness index.

“Given the rapid advancement in e-services and e-commerce, it is essential to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the states. While this would help the business and governments to leverage the strength, policy measures can also be taken where improvements are required,” it said.

IANS