Monday 2 December 2013

Internet users to triple in India by 2014








Search Engine Giant Google has predicted that within three

years the total number of internet users will grow three times

the current number. These internet users include broadband,

narrowband and mobile internet users. The reason behind this

is said to be the introduction of Android and Smartphones

becoming cheaper. Also the mobile companies are investing

highly in high speed wireless broadband infrastructure.

Example Tata Photon, Idea Netsetter, etc.


According  to the  Google currently there are as many as 100

million web users who are accessing internet through various

platforms like laptop, computer, Tablet PC’s and Mobile

browsers. By 2014 this number will rise to 300 million. Though

this number seems to be very high, this number is just one

eight the population of India. The current population is

estimated to be 1.2 Billion. Despite this, India is still the

world’s third-largest internet market (by users), after China

and the United States.

 Despite a lot of the infrastructure challenges we have as a

country, 100-million Indians are online. They’re spending a

huge amount of time online and they’re doing a varied set of

things online. With traditional media, television and

newspapers, drawing the majority of advertising spend along

increased regulation from government, how to capitalise on

this large emerging audience will be a challenge. Making money

off that growing audience, though, is proving difficult thus

far for Google and other Internet companies. Google doesn’t

release figures regarding its earnings in India. Analysts

believe, however, that it has laid claim to about half of the

online ad market, a disappointing statistic relative to the

search giant’s dominance in other parts of the globe.

According to Rajan Anandan, Google’s country head in India,

the country currently has about 100 million Internet users,

and the number will increase to 300 million by 2014, reports

The Wall Street Journal.

Even with just 8% of its 1.2 billion population online, India

is outranked by only the USA and China in the list of

countries with the most Internet users. And Google thinks that

the proliferation of high-speed third- and fourth-generation

telecom networks in the country, coupled with the spread of

low-cost smartphones, will further the spread of Internet use

in India.

Even so, the online advertising market in India is only worth

$200 million of the $80 billion global market, with Google’s

share of $100 million being an almost negligible percentage of

its worldwide revenue of $29.3 billion dollars last year.

Anandan says that while advertisers in India continue to pour

billions of dollars in traditional newspaper and television

advertising, online ads have yet to catch on in a big way.

Even e-commerce, which has seen a significant boom in the

country in recent times, is in its nascent stages yet, with

online ticket sales bringing in $5 billion annually, which is

only a small amount compared to the $80 billion market for

ticket sales in neighbouring China.

The WSJ also had some interesting statistics to share about

the usage metrics for Google’s products in the country.

According to research by ViziSense, Google Search is used by

65 million Internet users in India and YouTube by 23 million.

India is among the top nations by number of users on Google+,

with 3 million Indians already having signed up for the new

social network. Orkut, the company’s other social network,

continues to be used by 11.1 million Indian users, though the

service is in decline. Facebook, by comparison, boasts of 42.7

million users in India.

With regard to the potential for growth in India’s Internet

usage, Anandan did have two concerns. The Indian government

needs to update its policies to make them more friendly

towards Internet use in India, he said, and the average cost

of smartphones needs to be brought down further to help them

gain more mass market acceptance. He said that Google was

working with manufacturers to bring cheaper Android-powered

phones to the country.

Search engine giant Google expects India's Internet users to

triple by 2014. India is currently the third-largest internet

market by users, behind China and the US, despite only eight

per cent of its population being internet users.

Internet users
Internet Users in India 2014
    Internet Users in India 2013
    Internet Users in India
    Common Uses of Internet

-- 

Regards,

Nidhi Jain [ MBA eComm]
Asst Project Manager [ eComm]
On Line Assistence :
Y! Messenger : NidhiJ.AeroSoft@yahoo.com

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