Over 85% Indian households now own smartphones; UPI dominates digital banking among youth

New Delhi: A comprehensive national survey conducted by the Ministry of Statistics has revealed that approximately 85.5 per cent of Indian households now own at least one smartphone, signalling growing digital penetration across the country.

According to the report, titled Results of Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom, 2025, smartphone ownership among individuals aged 15–29 is strikingly high. In rural areas, around 95.5 per cent of individuals in this age group own a smartphone, while in urban areas the figure rises to 97.6 per cent.

Moreover, mobile phone usage in the same demographic is reported to be nearly universal. Approximately 96.8 per cent of rural youth and 97.6 per cent of urban youth used a mobile phone at least once over the past three months for personal calls or internet access.

Digital literacy and UPI dominance

The report highlights growing digital proficiency among Indian youth. Among individuals aged 15–29 who reported the ability to perform online banking transactions, an overwhelming 99.5 per cent stated they could do so using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Furthermore, 85.1 per cent of persons in the same age group demonstrated the ability to send messages with attachments—such as documents, pictures, or videos—using mobile or computer-like devices within the last three months preceding the survey.

Internet access at home and survey coverage

The report noted that approximately 86.3 per cent of Indian households had access to the internet within household premises. The survey spanned the entire Indian Union, excluding a few remote villages in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands due to inaccessibility.

In total, 4,382 first-stage units (FSUs) were surveyed—2,395 in rural areas and 1,987 in urban areas. The fieldwork covered 34,950 households, including 19,071 in rural regions and 15,879 in urban settings. The number of individuals enumerated stood at 1,42,065, of which 82,573 were in rural areas and 59,492 in urban centres.