Instagram doubles its active users in India in a year

India is on the cusp of officially becoming the country with the world's second largest Internet userbase, and that's great news for Mark Zuckerberg.

Instagram, a megapopular photo-sharing platform that in 2012 was bought by Facebookfor around $1 billion, doubled its base of monthly active users in India during the period between this and last September, reported the Economic Times.

"Instagram has gained immense popularity and the people are using it to express themselves," Facebook India's managing director Kirthiga Reddy told reporters in the country, according to the publication. "Our monthly actives in India have more than doubled over the past year and the momentum continues to build."


Exact numbers weren't provided, though it was announced in September that the company had hit 400 million users. It was noted at the time that over 75 percent of that number live outside the US.

Expect western companies to see continued growth in India -- IMRB International and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) this week published a report that said the populous country would house 402 million Internet users by December.

If the research firm is correct, India would rank as the country with the second most Internet users. Leading is China, with over 600 million of its 1.3 billion residents connected to the Net. At number three is the United States, with over 80 percent of its322 million-strong population being Internet users.