“SHUTTING DOWN SPEECH, SHUTTING DOWN GROWTH: MEASURING INDIA’S BILLIONS-DOLLAR LOSS FROM INTERNET SHUTDOWNS”

AUTHOR – SAMRAJ DAVID R, ADVOCATE, MADRAS, HIGH COURT, AS INDEPENDENT AUTHOR

BEST CITATION – SAMRAJ DAVID R, “SHUTTING DOWN SPEECH, SHUTTING DOWN GROWTH: MEASURING INDIA’S BILLIONS-DOLLAR LOSS FROM INTERNET SHUTDOWNS”, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 5 (10) OF 2025, PG. 335-346, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

ABSTRACT

                Based on empirical evidence, this article analyses the legal and economic consequences of state-mandated internet shutdowns in India, portraying these actions as antithetical to democratic values and as causes of substantial economic detriment. From 2012 to 2017, government-imposed disruptions lasting 16,315 hours caused GDP losses of more than US $3.04 billion, including US $2.37 billion from mobile suspensions and US $678.4 million from combined outages. These shutdowns hurt freedom of speech, hurt socioeconomic rights, and make investors less confident. Using elasticity-based econometric research, the study shows that each hour of blackout costs an average of US $186,332, which means that the law needs to be looked at closely and changed.

Keywords; Internet Shutdowns, Antithetical, Democracy, Freedom of Speech, Loss of GDP.