First, it was the E-mail and chat which had driven people to the internet cafes in India. Now, the Internet growth in India is being driven by some new and innovative applications such as blogs, P2P, video-on-demand and online gaming.
Now, people are being more Internet savvy than ever before. The numbers of Internet users has touched 3.7 crore mark in September 2006. It was at 3.3 crore in March in 2006.
According to a joint study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International, the number of active users has risen to 2.5 crore in September from 2.11 crore in March. The study also predicted that Internet user base will touch 4 crore mark by March 2007.
The survey was conducted on 16,500 households, covered 65,000 persons in 26 metro cities and small towns in India. The ten thousand business and 250 cyber cafe owners are additional in the study. However, the rural areas were excluded in the study.
The survey says that Indian youth are the main Internet users. The smaller cities are increasingly becoming the part of the Internet evolution in India. Smaller cities and towns have shown a whopping 142 per cent per year growth.
The poor infrastructure in the rural part of India is the biggest hurdle that is restricting the Internet expansion in India.
The government of India is working for the rural-connectivity through Internet but the slow implementation of the government projects in rural areas, illiteracy, electricity problem and lack of awareness among rural youth creates the main obstacle.