In India, Internet usage is growing year on year. Most of the organizations and individuals recognized the importance of the Internet. The popularity of the Internet is growing as a new media channel has exploded in recent years, attributed mostly to faster, more affordable broadband connections. The Internet penetration is also increasing in India.
There also has been an increase in use of Internet among rural people in India. The IMRB international’s (Indian Market Research Bureau) survey on rural Internet usage estimated that the claimed Internet users (who have ever used Internet) number will reach 30 million and the number of active Internet users (who have used Internet in the last one month) are expected to reach 24 million by the December 2011.
Internet access trends in rural India
There are various trends of using the Internet in rural India. However, the Internet Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) 2009 study on Internet usage in rural India revealed that most of the users had been accessing Internet for entertainment, communication and chatting purposes.
It was found that 41% of the Internet users were accessing Internet for downloading music or videos or photos. Online communications including email and chatting was used by 32% of them. Furthermore, about 25% of them had accessed Internet for finding information of news, addresses and numbers. The educational information search was accounted by 24% of the users. Apart from these, 6% of them accessed Internet for financial products, insurance, and online banking. The other trends include access for latest farming techniques, weather forecast, railway or air ticketing, job hunt, and others which were used by 5%, 2%, 3%, 2%, and 8% respectively. The trends of using the Internet were expected to increase in future.