D.S. Rawat, Secretary General of ASSOCHAM said, "Around 75% of internet users are between the age group of 15-34 years, India is one of the youngest online demographic globally. This is expected to be a continuing trend in coming years, given the age distribution in India".
"The age distribution has also contributed to consumption proportionally and its not surprising to see the growth among categories focused on younger users in last 12 months," said Rawat.
The age group between 15-24 years has been the fastest growing age segment online with user growth being contributed by both male and female segments. The top 5 popular categories accessed online are social networking, portals, search, entertainment and news sites.
India has been the fastest growing market adding over 18 million internet users and growing at an rate of 41%. India is also among the top 3 fastest growing markets worldwide in last 12 months. China added over 14 million users to reach 336 million internet users by the end of July 2012. Russia and India shows similar trends on online usage patterns along with similarities in e-Commerce and payment types.
Online travel has seen growth across all subcategories including car rentals, Online Travel Agents, OTS Airlines as well as hotels and travel information sites. 1 out of 5 online users in india visit the Indian railways site. Retail category has increased to 60% reach and has grown to 37.5 million unique users a month, an overall of 43% annually. Apparel has been the fastest growing subcategory in retails and reaches 13.4% online user in india.