According to a study by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), Indian economy is estimated to have suffered a loss of USD 3 billion due to internet shutdown from 2012-17.
The study was conducted to observe the internet shutdown across various devices and ecosystems linked to them.
Rajat Kathuria, director and chief executive at ICRIER said,
A total of 16,315 hours of Internet shutdown in India cost the economy approximately USD 3.04 billion during the period 2012 to 2017.
According to a detailed report on Anatomy of an Internet Blackout, 12,615 hours of mobile internet shutdowns in India costs economy approximately USD 2.37 billion while 3,700 hours of mobile and fixed internet shutdowns in India have resulted in a loss of USD 678.4 million during the period of 2012 to 2017.
The objective of the study was not to pinpoint the efficacy of a state decision on Internet blackout rather it was done to estimate the economic costs associated with the event, Kathuria said.
Online freelancers and E-commerce business rely solely on the functioning of the internet to carry out their operations, moreover, the report said that tourism has also increasingly become dependent on the Internet and has been severely affected.
Sectors such as IT and Banking have been relatively less affected as these mostly function along private lines, said the report.