As per a report by IAMAI, India has crossed 100 million Internet users, a growth of 13% over the last year.
As far as Internet usage is concerned, 89%of the 28 million active users in 30 cities used the Internet primarily for e-mail and 71 % for social networking and visiting Web sites
Insights from the report
- As of September 2011, there will be 112 Mn claimed Internet users: 88 million from urban cities and 24 Mn from rural villages
- Of 112 Mn claimed Internet users, there are 90 Mn (70 Mn in urban cities and 20 Mn in rural villages) users that use Internet at least once a month (i.e. active Internet users)
- Youngsters in India continue to drive Internet Usage in India. In usage of School Going Kids has seen a substantial rise. This opens up the market for children aged below 18 year of age.
- Top 8 metros with a combined usage of more than 60%.
Internet Access Points in India
- As far as access points are concerned, cybercafe usage is on decline and mobile is the new medium (due to the strict security rules imposed by ISPs?).
- Office usage has taken a sizeable dip of 8% units.
- Excluding large corporations and conglomerates, there are nearly 58.6 Mn install base of PCs. Across entities, there are 14.7 Internet connections and 11.87 Broadband connections.
- Among rural villages as of March 2011, there are 18 Mn claimed Internet users and 14.3 active Internet users. It is expected that the growth in the rural villages will be higher compared to urban
cities. It is expected that by December 2011, there will be 29 Mn claimed and 24 Mn active Internet users. 
Youngsters
More than 75% of Internet Usage is still driven by youngsters that include Young men, School and College going students (See figure, ‘Youth still drives the Internet usage’). The contribution shared fairly amongst,
– School Going Kids – 21%
– College Going Kids – 27%
– Young Men – 27%
Internet Usage
In the 30 urban cities wherein the survey was conducted, 89% use it to access emails, 71% use it for social networking activities (such as making friends and staying in touch), 64% access it to search education-related content, 55% use Internet for chatting purposes and 49% access videos, music and images.
The usage pattern differs among rural Internet users. Among the survey conducted in 7 states, 46% use Internet for accessing music, videos and images, 38% use it for email and communication activities, 29% access it for getting general information and 27% use Internet to access content related to education.
Download the report from here
