India’s digital inclusion story presents a paradox: spectacular growth in internet connectivity, but the majority of the population not using it even after living in connected areas. Bridging the rural-urban divide on internet usage remains a tough challenge, but overcoming it is crucial to achieving the targeted goals of the Digital India Mission. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data shows 93% of villages have been connected to mobile broadband networks, but about 61% of people are not using mobile internet. The gender gap in internet usage is more prominent, with only 30% of women in the country using the internet compared to 51% of men. A consultation paper floated by TRAI highlights that the number of internet users among women recorded an incremental jump from 21% in 2019 to 30% during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, but the percentage has remained constant while users among men increased from 42% in 2019 to 45% in 2020 and to 51% in 2021. Besides, close to half of the male population of India owns a smartphone, while this number is only over a quarter of the female population of the country, it adds. Across the globe, over one-third of the population is not using the internet, even though mobile internet coverage is around 95% of the global population, according to the GSM Association. The paper notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people work, and two concepts—work from home and work from anywhere—have become more popular among employers, but access to a smooth and faster mobile internet connection is necessary to make these concepts work for both employers and employees. The objective of the TARI consultation process is to study the issues related to uneven adoption of new technologies by various sections of society and economic enterprises and how the new technologies can be used for bridging the digital divide and ensuring that the new technologies do not lead to digital exclusion; to study and appreciate the current state of digital inclusion; to identify the issues related to variations in digital inclusion across different sections of society; and to review the existing initiatives taken by the central and state governments. TRAI has brought to the fore how affordability continues to pose a barrier to access to smartphones when it was felt that easy access to smart phones would have accelerated digital inclusion in the country. The cost of the cheapest internet-enabled smartphone was 35.91% of average monthly income (Rs. 4999) in 2022, compared to a global average of 26%, while this figure is below 5% in developed countries. The wireless data usage per subscriber per month in the country has increased from 89.43 MB in 2014 to 17.11 GB in December 2022, which TRAI has attributed to the declining cost of mobile internet data and the introduction of 4G and 5G technologies. The availability of 1GB mobile broadband plans at nearly 1.1% of Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (Rs. 150), below the target of less than 2% of monthly GNI per capita set by the Broadband Commission for 2025, as stated in the document, explains the quantum jump in data consumption. But the devil is in the details. The internet density in urban areas of the country is 104.77%, whereas in rural areas it is 38.33% as of September 2022, indicating a gap of more than 66% in internet penetration in the urban and rural areas of the country and also pointing towards a wide rural-urban gap in data consumption. Understanding this larger picture of the digital divide can help policymakers articulate pragmatic strategies for digital empowerment of citizens and door-to-door delivery of over 400 government services such as internet banking, Aadhaar enrolment and updation, e-governance services, and financial services like the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana. Those not having access to the internet in rural India are availing these services through Common Service Centres in villages but have to stand in long queues and revisit for different stages of service delivery such as submission of applications, document verification, payment of fee, and obtaining the final document, registration or enrollment numbers, or certificates. The TRAI document has presented a realistic picture of the current stage of digital inclusion and points out that, at the macro level, the performance of the country is very impressive. However, at micro and disaggregated levels, there appear to be variations in the usage of the internet and broadband services across different sections of society and geographies. It adds and correctly insists that these variations need to be investigated very critically and holistically to ensure that each citizen of the country is further empowered to be part of the digital journey and no one is left behind. Evidently, the root problem of digital exclusion lies in the fact that the digital India programme continues to be dominated by infrastructural development for mobile internet connectivity but is less focused on the affordability of new technologies for targeted users.