NEW DELHI: India’s internet user base grew over 17% in the first six months of this year to 354 million, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India The base had grown to 302 million by the end of 2014 after clocking its fastest rise of 32% in a year, as per IAMAI, which includes members such as Google Microsoft , Facebook, eBay, IBM Flipkart , Ola and LinkedIn The figures reflect the rapid acceleration in the number of internet users in the country.While it took more than a decade for the user base to increase from 10 million to 100 million, and three years to cross the 200 million mark, it took only a year for the user base to swell to 300 million from 200 million.“Clearly, internet is mainstream in India today,” IAMAI said in a statement. Nilotpal Chakravarti , associate vice-president of IAMAI said the growth in internet usage will come from non-metro and rural areas where mobile internet will play a pivotal role.“The advent of low-cost smartphones, coupled with low mobile tariffs, has empowered consumers in the hinterland to use data connectivity and we will be seeing more usage of internet from these areas in the months to come. Also, the increased internet usage will boost digital commerce in India,” said Chakravarti.The mobile internet user base grew to an estimated 213 million by June, from an estimated 173 million at the end of last year of which 128 million users were from urban area and the rest 45 million from rural India.With the growth of the internet, digital commerce, digital advertising, payments and social media have also seen steady growth.IAMAI said that increase in local language content will lead to a growth of 39% in internet user base, with rural India being the primary driver of this growth (75%) while urban India will grow at 16%.The local language user base grew 47% to reach 127 million in June. IAMAI said that the next set of internet users will come from rural India and the availability of local language content on internet will be the key for the growth of internet industry in India.