According an IAMAI-IMRB survey, Internet users in India reached 37 million in the month of September 2006. During the same period the number of active users rose to 25 million.
Estimated user base:
Sept 2006: 37m ever users and 25m active users
March 2007: 42m ever users and 28m active users
March 2008: 54m ever users and 43m active users
"Active user" is defined as someone who has used the Iternet at least once in the last 30 days, while "ever user" is someone who has used the Internet at least once.
Another important figure in the report was that around 38 percent of Indian Internet users (14 million) spent an average of 8 hours per week online.
With 3.24 million ever users and 2.6 million active users, Mumbai leads the pack of top eight internet using metros.
Delhi is second with 2.66 and 1.80 million of ever and active users respectively.
This was revealed by the Internet in India (I-Cube) study jointly undertaken by the Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International, asserts an official release.
The study also found that the difference between ever user and active users was the lowest in Pune with a 90 per cent conversion rate, and highest in Delhi with a poor 67 per cent conversion rate.
Kolkata, with 1.34 million ever and 1.05 million active users is ahead of technical centres such as Bangalore (1.31 and 0.97 million) and Hyderabad (1.29 and 0.95 million).
Ahmedabad has the lowest number of users among the top eight metros.
While top metros continue their dominance, there is a clear cut trend of small metros, non-metros and small towns catching up fast.
Among the ever user category, the share of top eight metros has declined from 58 per cent in 2001 to 41 per cent in 2006. The corresponding decline in the active users is from 90 per cent in 2001 to 77 per cent in 2006, adds the release.
The Internet in India (I-Cube) 2006 report covered around 65,000 individuals from 16,500 households, surveyed in 26 cities, with additional coverage of 10,000 businesses and 250 cybercafé owners, and is one the largest offline surveys of Internet users in India. The survey did not include rural areas.
