A recent survey by Indian Market Research Bureau and the Internet and Mobile Association of India revealed that Mumbai is India’s top Internet market with 8.1 million claimed and 6.2 million active Internet users.
Delhi-NCR is No. 2 in the country with 6.2 million claimed and 5 million active users; followed by Kolkata at No. 3 with 3 million claimed and 2.4 million active users; Chennai at No. 4 with 2.9 claimed and 2.2 million active users; and Hyderabad at No. 5 with 2.2 million claimed and 1.8 active users. Bangalore (2.2 million claimed, 1.7 million active), Ahmedabad (2 million claimed, 1.7 active) and Pune (1.9 million claimed, 1.2 million active) were also noted in the survey.
The survey also found that towns with less than 200,000 people collectively returned a much higher number of Internet users (21 million claimed and 16.1 million active users) than the top four metro areas combined.
“Two things are absolutely clear from the survey. First, the Internet density is very poor in top metros in spite of awareness, education and infrastructure. Delhi and NCR for example have only 5 million active users with a population base of 20 million. Secondly, Internet is now clearly and firmly a small town phenomenon,” said IAMAI President Subho Ray.
India’s smaller metro areas had 14.3 million claimed and 11.6 million active users, while non-metros had 9 million claimed and 7.4 million active users. Small towns had 9.1 million claimed and 7.5 million active users.
Other important figures that emerged from the survey:
–The findings of the survey seemed to put to rest the myth that Internet access is only for rich people.
–Internet usage is still dominated by youth (18-35 years) with college students, young men and working women being the lead users.
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