NEW DELHI, August 1: Statistics, doesn't matter if they conceal a lot too, come across as a veritable tool to blow prevalent notions to smithereens. So, the myth that the Net has spread itself out all over the country, and the claims that the Net is going to be the instrument for change far and wide appear a tad hollow if one were to look even cursorily at the findings of one of the largest surveys about the Internet to be conducted in India.
Internet usage in the country, in the last one decade, has evolved more in depth than in spread. The user base has deepened, not broadened. In other words, the much-talked about impact and growth of the Internet is being driven through increased usage by existing users rather than assimilation of newer ones. Four out of five urban Net users have stayed wired for more than three years now. A minuscule 8 per cent went on the Net in the last one year.
This is one of the many findings laid threadbare by one of the largest online surveys conducted by JuxtConsult in April 2005 among Internet users in India. The survey sampled more than 30,000 individuals to unravel the identity of Net users along with their lifestyle choices. To estimate the penetration of the Internet among urban Indians, a telephonic survey of 3,000 people was also executed in 10 cities. JuxtConsult is a joint effort of Indicus Analytics and Webchutney.
The upper limit of the total number of urban Net users is estimated at 23 million. Around 17.5 million of these urban Indians use the Internet with certain consistency, while another 5.2 million do it sparingly. This puts the penetration of Internet among urban Indians at 9 per cent. Assuming marginal usage in rural areas, the national penetration level stands at around 2 per cent. Urban uptown users and emerging town users constitute 12 per cent and 8 per cent of this user base. Numbers are not that big, as one sees.
In terms of depth of usage, almost a third of the urban Internet users are heavy users with log time of more than three hours every day. Interestingly, one out of every three heavy Internet users is connected �throughout the day’ and a third of those are logging in at least five times a day. Clearly, urban India is witnessing the emergence of a �netoholic’. Quite a term, but is as real as are the people it is meant to describe.
The survey goes on to debunk certain other myths. The profile of a characteristic Net user is inconsistent with the widespread notion that this person is a white-collared professional. The typical Net user is more of an average person who, however, does represent a reasonably decent purchasing power. Every three out of four Net users own an automobile of some kind and every second Net user has a credit card.
Internet users in India are by and large adults, and mostly men. The single largest age block is 25-30 with 32 per cent, followed closely by 19-24 with 29 per cent, and 31-40 with 22 per cent. In terms of functional spheres of users, IT, not surprisingly, accounts for almost a third of the Internet user base. Marketing/sales come next. For most Net users, logging on is a daily ritual. Only 15 per cent of the users dot not log in every day; the rest do � most of them more than five times a day.
