“Can anyone of those companies ultimately become the next Google? Of course.”

“That may not happen for quite a few years. But if India plays its cards right, we will soon see Indian engineers and small businesses tackling Indian problems first, then exporting the solutions that work best,” Schmidt said.

With a total population of 1.2 billion, India has over 600 million mobile phone users but only about 150 million people regularly connect to the Internet.

In 2011, India’s Internet penetration rate was 11 per cent, “far below” that of developed nations where penetration rates average 70 per cent.

India’s Internet penetration rate is less than a third of China’s penetration ratio of 38 per cent and less than half of those in developing countries, which average 24 per cent.

“By any reasonable definition, India is an Internet laggard... In spite of its well deserved reputation as one of the world’s leading IT and software development hubs, India is far from being the connected society many foreigners imagine,” Schmidt said.

The number of India’s broadband users, 20 million, is even smaller, Schmidt said however adding that India is on the cusp of a connectivity revolution.

“I believe India has the chance to leapfrog its current connectivity challenges, bring Internet access to a majority of its citizens — and even raise its penetration ratio to 60 or 70 per cent within the next 5—10 years,” he said.

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