Rural India Goes Online !

India has witnessed continuous growth in Internet adoption in certain sections of society predominant patterns exist mostly in urban areas. These Internet users have started utilizing this technology as an interactive medium. Such users utilize Internet not merely for information search or communication but also for leisure activities. Different online applications like entertainment –gaming, movies and music as well as user-generated content on the web has made Internet a virtual world. Over the web, users are interacting, learning and building relationships.

Rural part of the country, however, has just started to recognize the importance of this technology. Various technological developments are in the offing. These technologies are expected to play a vital role in enabling improved adoption of the Internet across different geographies.

The emerging technologies include WiMAX, 3G and WiBro, which promise to provide last mile connectivity and new access points as PDAs and kiosks.

Approximately 70% of household resides in rural part of the country. Literacy rate has been increasing over the years and has reached up to 65%. Interestingly, English-speaking population in Rural India is only 63 Million, which is 17% of the total literate population. Of this population, nearly 15.1 Million are computer-literate. Of which, 5.5 Million have used the Internet in the past. With nearly 0.6% of penetration in the total population, there are 3.3 Million Active Internet users. Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), GOI initiatives, community service centers and CSR activities by private companies have played a significant role in ensuring this penetration. Considering such high levels of literacy rate coupled with relatively low English-speaking population, it is imperative to provide need-based applications in vernacular content to ensure high adoption of the Internet.

With 250 Million urban population in India, 82% of them are literate and of these, only 31% are English-speaking. However, out of 77 Million (38% of 205 Million), 84% are PC-literate. This indicates that PC literacy and usage are highly associated with English-speaking ability. As urban Internet penetration reaches a saturated level there is a need for innovative information delivery, which could ensure increase in time spent on the Internet. User generated content such as blogs, TLC (Trying out, links and communities) could help in increasing time spent over the Internet (i.e. conversion of light users to heavy Internet users). Other need based applications like E-commerce could help in pushing Internet non-users towards adopting this medium.128 Million of the Urban population is left behind due to non-familiarity with English, which forms the potential target segment for usage of vernacular content on the web.

36% growth in PC owners has been witnessed over the last year. This could be due to fall in PC prices and increase in the awareness of benefits in using a PC. Cyber cafes have been the main access points of Internet over the years. Office is becoming more popular point of access, which is not a healthy sign for growth of Internet Industry in India. Interestingly, there is an increase in the Internet access from School/Colleges. Reasons for this could be introduction of computer education and permission to access the Internet form computer laboratory.

Online communication like Email and Chat are the main purposes of accessing the Internet followed by information search with the increase in the usage of the
Internet, E-Commerce applications like online bill payment, online ticket booking
etc. are gaining more popularity online entertainment is another
Key driver for the growth of the Internet in India with sticky applications like
“Online gaming & Music/video” downloads “India Gaming Summit”, recently organized in the year 2008, has witnessed the launch of ‘Gaming revolution’ in India and laid a
foundation for developing gaming ecosystem in India.

(Courtesy: I-Cube 2008 Report by IAMAI)