All internet loves must thanks comScore Networks on releasing the survey result which claims that the India has emerged as the fastest growing country of Internet users, surpassing the growth rates in the US, China, Japan. However, India is not there in the top 10 countries in terms of average monthly hours online per unique visitor.
comScore Networks also reports that India ranked eighth in terms of number of internet users as of January 2007. The US has the largest internet population of 153 million followed by China ( 86.8 million), Japan (53.6 million), Germany (32 million) and the UK (30 million) in the top five. The growth in the internet penetration can also be attributed to the fact that India grew at 33 per cent, while the world average was 10 per cent. I believe that the Indian Internet market is still at nascent stage and we hardly have any Internet success story. Indian Internet space needs a few Indian internet brands. I believe that its not enough to have just rediff, Indiatimes, and naukri. In current business scenario the Indian Internet market one needs a path breaking indigenous idea, two a local idea with global standard execution, three experimentation with local content. In current market scenario I can only see that the market is mushroomed with too many me-too ventures. I believe that Indian market is yet not explored well and needs experimentation.
No wonder VC firms from Silicon Valley now focusing on India and several Indian companies as part of their portfolio. The global VC films like Sequoia India, Helion, Matrix Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, NEA IndoUS Venture Fund , and KPCB in last few years have funded various Indian internet ventures. The internet companies which got vc funding are Guruji, Travelguru, MingleBox, ApnaLoan, Shaadi, Komli, MakeMyTrip, seventymm, Yatra, Sulekha, bharatmatrimony, cleartrip, naukri to name a few. A close look on these internet venture tells yet another story. These internet ventures can be classified into lifestyle, travel, or existing, prominent portals. All these internet ventures with low internet population are managing the revenue is a commendable task. A close look on these entire ventures also indicates that they are playing in the field which is closely linked to corporate world. Naukri is a job board; Travelguru, MakeMyTrip, Yatra are travel portals with focus on corporate or office goers.
