India to be ranked 3rd largest Internet market after China and the US

By the end of this year, one in every 10 Indians will be an Internet user, making the country the third-largest Internet market in the world afterChina and the United States. At the end of December, 121 million Indians will be accessing the Internet at least once a week to check emails, chat or log on to a social network, a survey has found. India is adding Internet users at the rate of almost 5-7 million a month, and at the current pace it will surpass the US, which has about 245 million users, in less than two years. According to the survey by IMRB and the Internet &Mobile Association of India, the country's Internet population was about 112 million by September. When this year ends, about 9 million more will be added, making India one of the world's top markets for Net-based businesses. The profile of users is evolving rapidly, showing that the medium has made deep inroads into smalltown India and among the less affluent. There are more Internet users in towns with a population of less than 5 lakh than in the top eight metros put together. Schoolchildren make up more than a fifth of the users and more than one in 10 belong to the lowest socio-economic groupings. The Internet explosion is also rapidly opening up markets for online businesses, consumers and retailers. For entrepreneurs such as Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Zomato.com, the Internet is changing the business landscape forever in favour of India. "Now startups look to India when planning to start a business... earlier they would flock to the US," he said. The number of customer visits to his site, which provides listings of restaurants, has doubled in the past six months to 2 million. "We are seeing 10% week-on-week growth." About 2 billion people worldwide access the Internet and 25% of them are from China. India contributes about 6% to the world's Net population and the US 12.5%.