Internet users rise 17% in 2008: study

New Delhi: The number of active Internet users in the country has grown by nearly 17% in 2008 over the same period a year ago, a study says.

According to a study by Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International, India has 45.3 million active users at the end of September 2008, of which 42 million are from the urban community.

Urban users continue to dominate Internet use contributing to 42 million of the 45 million odd users, a study by the organisations ‘Internet in India´ finds.

In the same period last year, the number of active users in urban India was 36 million, which shows a year-on-year growth of 16.66%.

“The growth rate was alarming compared with the rest in past years as well as with some other countries notably China where the number of Internet users are more than 250 million,” IAMAI President Subho Ray said.

Study defines active Internet users as those users, who have used the Internet at least once in the last one month, which is an internationally accepted benchmark for enumerating internet users.

Meanwhile, the study also found that the number of ‘claimed’ Internet users in September 2008 was 57 million compared with 48 million of last year. Claimed users are those, who have used the Internet sometime but not in the last one month.

I-Cube (Internet in India) study is conducted annually by IMRB International and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).