India: Internet Stats : Facts : Cyber Cafes : 2007

According to World Internet Stats, while 29% browsers surf on the English board, as many as 15% prefer to do so in Chinese.
India’s great internet dream which sank the hopes and dollars of hundreds of ambitious dotcoms in the early 2000s could finally be turning into reality.
More than half of Indians who access the internet reside not in the metros but outside India’s eight largest cities, or in other words, in Tier II and III cities. This changing scenario not only reflects the pace of internet and telecom penetration in the country but also the huge opportunity that exists for marketers across non-metros.
So, when online research & advisory firm JuxtConsult ‘India Online 2007’ surveyed 10,000 offline households in 31 cities countrywide, it reflected sharply on the online behaviour of Indians. In a two-part series, ET presents the big picture.
Internet penetration is steadily making inroads into the hinterland and getting broader in its socio-economic manifestation (SEC). If 66% users came from SEC ‘A’ and ‘B’ classes in 2006, only 56% come from these classes now. Internet is no more child’s play. Perhaps that explains why the internet user-age is getting broadbased.
If the 19-35 year age groups accounted for 76% users last year, they now constitute only 67%. Also, more and more users are logging on virtually cutting across various disciplines and backgrounds. There are only 17% internet users in this country who come from an IT background as against 21% a year ago.
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