Bharat’s next 500 million users will reshape how India learns and earns

This article is authored by Keertay Agarwal, co-founder & chief operations officer, Seekho.

A shopkeeper watches a short lesson on negotiation before speaking to a supplier; while a mother learns how to link her Aadhaar details to a government scheme without making another trip to an office. Or maybe, a young employee rehearses a few lines before presenting an idea in a meeting.

Internet

None of these moments seem like formal education. Yet each is learning, triggered by an immediate need.

This is the shift Bharat's next 500 million users will bring. Their relationship with learning will not be defined only by classrooms, courses or certificates. It will be shaped by the questions life places in front of them.

Learning stops being a single life stage

For India's first internet generation, education largely followed a sequence: school, college, qualification, employment. Learning was concentrated at the beginning of life and treated as preparation for what came later.

That model is swiftly becoming inadequate. Rural active internet users are growing at nearly four times the pace of urban India, and rural India now accounts for more than 57% of the country's active internet population. This audience includes gig workers, first-time job seekers, small-town professionals, homemakers, micro-entrepreneurs and students.

Their needs change quickly. A worker may need personal finance, a homemaker help with a digital service, and a business owner better customer communication.

For them, learning is a resource to return to whenever the next challenge appears.

Language decides who gets to participate

But we cannot create access merely by putting content online. People must be able to understand it without first translating every thought into English.

Nearly 98% of Indian internet users accessed content in Indic languages in 2024. Even among urban users, 57% preferred regional-language content. Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam were among the languages benefiting from greater digital availability.

For Bharat, language is not a localisation feature added after a product is built. It is the access layer itself.

Hinglish can make unfamiliar ideas conversational. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam carry context that English-first explanations may miss. National reach is impossible while excluding the languages in which much of the country thinks and acts.

Trust, not credentials, becomes the real currency

As content becomes easier to discover, reliable guidance becomes harder to identify.

A learner trying to fill a government form, improve a sales pitch or understand a workplace process cannot afford advice that merely sounds confident. Poor information can mean wasted time, lost money or a missed opportunity.

Credentials will still matter in formal professions. In everyday learning, trust will come from accuracy, clarity and whether advice works. The strongest systems will win through dependability, not catalogue size.

That requires visible expertise, careful review and regular updates.

This puts a real obligation on anyone building for this audience. Short isn't enough on its own, it has to be short and reliable. Personalisation isn't enough on its own, it has to be personal and verified by someone who actually knows the subject.

AI personalises the path, it doesn't replace judgment.

AI can make learning journeys easier to navigate. In 2025, 44% of Indian internet users engaged with AI-enabled features such as voice search, image search, chatbots, and recommendations, with adoption highest among people aged 15 to 44.

Its greatest value lies in sequencing. AI can suggest what comes next, adjust the pace, change the language, or offer another explanation based on a learner's needs. But personalisation is not credibility. A learning path may be AI-recommended, but the knowledge and outcomes still need expert judgment. The enduring model will be AI-personalised and expert-anchored, not AI-only.

Looking ahead, Bharat's next 500 million users will learn very differently from the first 500 million. For them, learning isn't tied to a classroom or a qualification. It is an ongoing process that helps them build confidence, become more independent, solve everyday challenges, and keep up with a changing world.

This changes the role education plays in people's lives. Instead of being confined to one stage of life, learning becomes part of everyday living – something people return to whenever they need to pick up a new skill, make a decision, or adapt to new circumstances.

The organisations that recognise this shift early – from platforms and employers to policymakers – will be best placed to shape the next decade. Those that don't will continue to treat education as a one-time milestone, even as learners increasingly see it as a lifelong habit.

(The views expressed are personal)

This article is authored by Keertay Agarwal, co-founder & chief operations officer, Seekho.