`Internet in India is growing, but it's early days'

The Indian internet user base crossed the 100 million mark in November. In 2012, the internet user growth is expected to accelerate as more users get online on an array of devices that includes smart phones and tablets. In the next three years the number of internet users will be in excess of 300 million. India already has the third largest internet user base in the world, behind China and the USA. ET Bureau interviewed Manish Dalal, vice president, Asia Pacific, Verisign to discuss the growth of internet and the impact it will have on users. Verisign is an internet infrastructure company that provides dot com and dot net registry.

How do you view the internet user base in India?

We are at an inflection point and the user base of about 100 million triggers off other elements as well. There are new start-ups coming up online, venture funds are chasing internet based ideas and more people are transacting business online, be it buying movie tickets, books or consuming information.
However, as internet grows many sites will have to think about local language content. We will soon see websites in multiple languages as internet penetration increases. Applications like video will take off in a big way.

In India there are 2.6 million domain names, close to 1 million businesses are online (websites) out of which 1.6 million are `dot com’ and 1 million are `dot in’.

Does the growing user base signal the maturity of internet in the country?

India is growing but its early days as yet. A sign of maturity is the ratio of internet users to number of domain names. And India is at the bottom here, with less than two websites for every 100 users. In the US it is 20 (for every 100 users there are 20 websites). In China it is eight and in Europe and Japan more than 10.

What will be the impact of internet on users?

E-commerce will take off. More people will buy travel, books, electronics and entertainment online. Internet will make life easier — to pay bills or interact with the government.

Today there are 100 million plus internet users. About 25-30% are accessing internet on mobiles. This will get bigger. The mobile device offers a faster ease of doing business via smart phones. The challenge is to bring them to the Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000 price points. The good news is we are getting there. Tablets are also at an affordable price point.