Number of women online in India crosses the 12 million mark

Internet & Mobile Association of India: A comprehensive look at what women do online. Both Indian men and women value the Internet for its efficiency and its strength as a gateway to inexhaustible reserve of information and experiences, and thus have their own interests and reasons to use the world Wide Web.

Since 2004-05, the percentage of online users has increased by 54% to 38.5 million users - male online users increased in absolute numbers but dipped from 72% (2004-05) to 68% (2005-06) and women numbers increased from 28% in 2004-05 to 32% in 2005-06 [12.32 million]. The estimate for the male female ratio in the next 2 years is that it will be closer to 60:40 ratio but will still result in the absolute numbers of men being higher then women.

Commenting on the release of the research, President, Internet and Mobile Association of India, It's critical to understand different activities that women use online throwing light on multiple usabilitys' for personal requisites or for work related needs. The report showcases that 57% of women log in from home; 46% of women are unmarried followed by 38% married women with kids; 78% have been using Internet since the last 3 years and tend to window shop online and are cautious online shoppers. The online population is well poised to grow to 100 million from the current 38.5 million users and percentage of women likely to increase to 40% in the next 2 years; the findings of this research will help marketers to build their online infrastructure including online sales & communication channel as women like to discuss and share their experiences with a greater emphasis on deepening connections with people.

• Email: 96% of women use the Internet for Emailing for personal use and 92% for work purposes. Increasing communications related activities especially for personal use would over a period of time make Internet extremely integral in a user's day to day life.

• Chatting: 44% of women use the Internet for Chatting and the activity is reduced to almost half where only 26% chat regarding work related purposes.

• Surfing: 63% of women use the Internet for Surfing for personal purposes and 50% surf the Internet for work related issues.

• Search: 65% of women use search engine for personal requisites and 66% use the search engines to find work related information.

• Research: 29% of women use the Internet for personal research and 37% use the Internet for work related research.

• News Online: 51% of women look up news online as a personal activity whereas 38% look up news for their professional requisites.

• News on Mobile: 10% read news on their mobile as a personal activity and 7% read news on mobile related to work.

• Matrimonial Purposes:15% of women use the Internet for 'Matrimonial related activities. It is 3% higher than men as the medium offers Privacy, confidentiality and the convenience of meeting people whilst being able to be selective.

• Jobs: 55% of women use the Internet to Search for Jobs. This is 5% higher than men at 50%

• Astrology: 36% of women use the Internet for Astrological Predictions while 22% men use the Internet for the same.

• Religious & Spiritual Information: 17% of women use the Internet for Spiritual Information compared with 15% of Men who use the Internet for the same.

• Financial Transactions Online: Online women in India are cautious about their online transactions as clearly seen by the below mentioned statistics

1. Online Auctions 11% women use the Internet to participate in an Online Auctions

2. Online Stock Trading 9% of women use of the Internet for Online Stock Trading.

3. Online Bill Payments 12% of women use the Internet for Online Bill Payments

4. Online Banking 24% of women the Internet for Online Banking

5. Online Shopping 22% of women use the Internet for Online Shopping

6. Donating or Charity Online 4% of women donate online

More: A comprehensive look at what users do online in India Publ 20060207