There is no doubt in the fact that India is a net savvy nation and the Web has made the life of an Indian Netizen a better one. Gone are the days when the long queues in ticket booking counters and banks used to make life horrible for an Indian. Thanks to the advent of indispensable Internet technology, one can book rail or air tickets, shop online, transfer funds, pay the monthly bills, and perform innumerable jobs, all with a click of a mouse.

According to a report from online research and advisory firm, JuxtConsult, Internet usage in India is consistently increasing over the past few years and the Internet using population is evenly spread across all socio-economic classes. The report ‘India Online 2008’ states that there are over 49 million Internet users in the country. JuxtConsult has conducted an offline survey of over 12,500 households across 40 cities and 160 villages countrywide to comprehend the Internet activities of India.

An urban population of some 40 million accounts for the major Internet usage, but rural India is catching up fast with a total so far of nine million users. With more than two-thirds of the total population, users residing outside cities score over the metro users. The salaried segment in the corporate sector covers up 51% of all net users.

The report also shows some kind of transition in the place of usage. Earlier, cyber cafés used to be the favourite surfing places. But with the influx of various local, national and global Internet service providers over the past few years, more Indian homes are getting Internet connected. About 41% of the users surf from home, 40% from the workplace and the share of cyber cafés has dropped to a meagre 17.7%.

Entertainment is playing a big part in the soaring number of Internet users in India. The huge popularity of social networking sites, matrimonial sites and other entertainment portals with Netizens is giving them an effervescent platform to experience a new mode of communication. The lower age groups account for most of the usage in this sector.

While speaking to the Examiner, the director of JuxtConsult, Mr. Sanjay Tiwari, said there has been a tremendous growth in social networking and other entertainment sites even among the not-so-Internet-savvy population as they are buying the whole idea of keeping in regular touch with their friends and family. Tiwari added that job sites are already quite popular and going through a steady growth in usage. X