MUMBAI: Internet contributed $50 billion to the Australian economy in 2010, according to a report commissioned by Google and executed by Deloitte Access Economics.

Internet, thus, accounted for 3.6 per cent of Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP), which is slightly larger than the contribution made by iron ore exports.

The report also predicted that online economy will grow another 7 per cent a year to be worth $70 billion by 2016.

The study suggests that productivity gains that Australian businesses get from the Internet are estimated to energise GDP by nearly $27 billion in 2011.
  
Google Australia MD Nick Leeder said, "The value of the digital economy in Australia has never been measured before. The report shows that Australia‘s investments in the Internet have already paid off enormously well and we see those benefits touching households and businesses of all sizes across the country."

Ric Simes from Deloitte Access Economics, who headed the project, believes that Internet is having a profound effect on how the economy and society works in many ways that we don’t fully understand yet.