Few statistics on India’s Internet Usage

Following are few statistics from “India Infoline 2008” a report about internet in India released by ‘JuxtConsult’, an online research firm. Few statistics have also been taken from the IAMAI & IMRB’2007 report on Internet users in India.

No of Internet users in India:

• It claims that there are 49 million Internet users in India
• Out of 49 million, 40 million internet users are in urban cities.
• Of these, 35 million are regular Internet users who log on at least once a month.
• Around 25 million Internet users are online daily.

Demographics & Choice of Language of Indian Internet users:

• 77 per cent of the Internet users are in the age group of 19-35 years
• 51 per cent are salaried employees in corporate houses and 30 per cent live in metros.
• Surprisingly, only 28 per cent of the respondents said they prefer to read in English when online

 India’s internet user base is mainly composed of youth segment, with majority user being ‘’young men’

Most Popular Internet Activities of Indian internet user:

According to report most popular activities online are

• emailing (91 per cent)
• job search (72 per cent)
• instant messaging (70 per cent)

Other popular activities are checking news and sports, downloading music and movies, and checking cricket scores.

Internet Brands & Top of Mind Recall

Among the brands surveyed by JuxtConsult, Google predictably has the highest top of mind recall, at 36.6 per cent, followed by Yahoo! at 31.5 per cent and Rediff at a distant 7 per cent. In terms of usage, Google is used by 28 per cent of the respondents, and Yahoo is used by 27.6 per cent of them. Rediff and Gmail follow with 8.6 per cent usage each.

Projected Growth Rate for Internet advertising:

As per a KPMG & Group M survey of 2008 Internet advertising is seen at 840 crores in 2009 by KPMG and is expected to have one of the highest growth rates with an expectation to move to 2140 crores by 2013.

Online Activities on Indian Websites
JuxtConsult also surveyed the most used websites for specific online activities.

• According to the report, Yahoo! is most used for email (51 per cent users), instant messaging (53 per cent), online news (16 per cent), net telephony (25 per cent), astrology (25 per cent), cinema (14 per cent) and mobile content (12 per cent).

• Google is the most used website for information search in English (81 per cent), search in local languages (65 per cent), real estate (23 per cent) and online learning or education (32 per cent).

• Orkut is the most used website for friendship and dating (54 per cent), sharing pictures (38 per cent), social networking (66 per cent) and professional networking (44 per cent).

• Naukri is used by 42 per cent of the respondents for job search. Yatra is most used for travel (18 per cent), Zapak is most used for games (32 per cent) and eBay is most used for online shopping (33 per cent).

• In the financial world, Moneycontrol is accessed by 18 per cent of the users for financial news and information, while ICICI Direct is used by 31 per cent users for online share trading.

• Bharatmatrimony is most used (36 per cent) in online matrimony,

• YouTube is most used for video sharing (43 per cent)

• Cricinfo is used by 19 per cent of the users for sports.

• Raaga is the website most used for music (17 per cent)

• Rediff is used by 19 per cent of the users for buying or renting a movie CD.

• Only 28% people prefer to read in English when online. 65% users use Google for local language searches which show that there is a scope for regional languages on the web.

Google Study

According to Economic Times Google has conducted a study implemented by the strategic market research firm Media Screen to gain deeper understanding of Indian consumer behavior in the online space. According to the study

• 18% of all financial products are sold online in India
• Nearly 68% of consumers go online to research products that interest them
• Comparing costs and product details are the two most common online financial research activities.
• For Consumers undertaking research for banking services information sources are TV advertisements (41%), search engines (69%) and bank’s website (47%).

Beyond this there is also a pitch for importance of Search Engine and Google with the study stating

• Nearly 67% of respondents use search engines for financial product research.
• 30% of consumers also use search engines to become aware of special rates/promotions and to access expert advice.
• Around 55% people see an online advertisement and click on them to learn more.