According to a McKinsey report titled ‘Internet matters: The Net’s sweeping impact on growth, jobs, and prosperity’, released at the e-G8 Forum held in Paris on May 24-25, 2011, internet contributed 5 per cent to the total gross domestic product (GDP) growth of India in the past five years compared with the average 3 per cent for BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies. According to the report, companies are able to keep costs down, target customers better and bring goods and services to markets around the world much more easily.

Individuals are able to compare prices, search hard-to-find items or information, communicate and learn in new, improved ways. Governments can serve citizens much more quickly and at a much lower cost through e-governance. According to the report there are 2 billion internet users worldwide and as a sector, internet related consumption and expenditure is now bigger than agriculture or energy.

The report further said that internet has a sweeping impact on growth, prosperity of a country and has created 2.4 jobs for every job that it has destroyed. “The Internet is a contributer to net job creation. While jobs have been destroyed by the emergence of internet, many more have been created during the same period, including jobs directly linked to the internet, such as software engineers and online marketers as well as more traditional jobs, logistics to deliver online purchases," the report added.