"NSO Report Reveals: 51% of Rural Women in India Lack Mobile Phone Ownership".

National | Dated: 04 Jun 2025

In May 2025, the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India (GoI), released the ‘Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom, 2025 (CMS-T) Report’.

🎯 Key Highlights:

  • - This report is part of the 80th round of the National Sample Survey (NSS) conducted during January–March 2025.
  • - According to the survey findings, 51.6% of women aged 15 years and above in rural areas do not own a mobile phone.
  • - The NSO defined mobile phone ownership as possession of a device with an active Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card for personal use.

💡 Other Important Facts:

  • (i) 85.5% of Indian households own at least one smartphone.
  • (ii) Around 86.3% of households have internet access within their premises.
  • (iii) Among individuals aged 15–29 years, 68.7% are capable of conducting online banking transactions via mobile or computer, including 63.4% in rural areas and 79.7% in urban areas.

📚 Test Your Knowledge:

As per NSO's recently released CMS-T 2025 report, what percentage of rural women aged 15+ in India do not own a mobile phone?

Correct Answer: 51.6%

🚀 Quick Recap: