India has 52 mn 'active' Internet users: IAMAI

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said that 71 million people claimed to have used Internet in 2009, of which 52 million are active users of Internet.

According to the Internet in India report published by IAMAI and market research leader IMRB, active users, which means the ones who use Internet at least once a month according the international standards of reckoning, rose from 42 million in September 2008 to 52 million in September 2009, registering a year on year growth of 19 per cent.

The study said the ‘claimed users’ is an important category for understanding future trends in active user base.

According to IAMAI, 36 per cent of all web users are from small town, whereas 34 per cent are from metros. In 2001, this was five per cent and 77 per cent respectively.

IAMAI said the surge in number has been primarily due to the increased numbers of the users in the remote urban pockets (small metros and towns) and among lower socio-economic classes (SEC C, D &E).

“This development has been more striking this year as the combined usage of these geographies and classes have overtaken top cities and higher socio-economic classes in numbers. This finding clearly indicates that the Internet has reached to remote masses in urban India,” it said.

The report also stated that Internet usage has gone up from 9.3 hours/week to 15.7 hours/week i.e. a steep 70 per cent rise. The reason, according to the study, can be attributed to innovative content delivery, better applications and its increased use for entertainment purposes, which comprises downloading music or videos, socializing through social networking sites and expressing one’s own opinions and views through micro-blogging and user-generated content sites.

As expected, youth continues to drive the surge in Internet use and form major portion of the total users. Among youths, the Internet is primarily being used for searching general information and for entertainment.

Commenting on the report, IAMAI president Subho Ray said: “While we are happy to note while people in the smaller towns are taking to internet seriously, for a deeper engagement we need to provide them the best innovations in the language of their choice, at an access cost that does not pinch and through a device that they have. Only then this engagement is going to be sustainable.”

IAMAI did the survey across 31 cities in the country, which covered 19,000 households and 68,000 individuals, said Subho Ray.