The Indian web and mobile markets by the numbers

Sometimes it’s just easier to get a high-level picture of a market if you look directly at the numbers. Google India Managing Director Rajan Anandan gave a fascinating talk to our Geeks on a Plane India group this week, giving us a snap shot of the data that is driving the consumers, entrepreneurs, trends and investors in the rapidly growing Indian web and mobile markets.

Anandan says: “We’re probably in 1996 in the U.S. in terms of the Internet market in India.” Here’s the stats from Anandan’s deck. India has:

1.2 billion people
The 9th largest economy in the world, with $ 1.7 trillion GDP
600 million people below the age of 25
22 languages
250 million in the consuming class — these are the folks that buy e-commerce
900 million mobile accounts, with 600 million unique mobile subscribers (many people have more than one account)
30 million PCs — it’ll be a mobile broadband world
Average revenue per user (ARPU) is $ 3
100 million Internet users, and 120 million Internet users by the end of 2011
By 2015 there will be 300 million to 400 million Internet users
37 percent of Internet users access the web from home, 27 percent from an Internet cafe, 22 percent from an office, 3 percent from school
There are 50 million mobile data subscribers
5 million access Internet only on the phone
In 2010/2011 e-commerce emerged as a $ 7 billion market, with $ 6 billion of that going to online travel
By 2015 the e-commerce market is expected to be $ 40 billion
67 percent of e-commerce customers by electronics and cell phones. 18 percent buy apparel.
15 million 3G mobile subscribers
Broadband is 250 kbps to 500 kpbs fixed line
The use of smart phones will grow 52 percent CAGR
There are 37 million Facebook users
Google Plus use is bigger than Twitter use
23 million unique users on YouTube India
There will be $ 1.3 trillion in online ad spend in 2011
The English Internet will not scale beyond 200 million, says Anandan
159 million read Hindi newspapers and 31 million read English newspapers
There will be a massive tsunami toward vernacular content on the web, says Anandan
70 percent of non-travel e-commerce is “cash on delivery” (no online payments, buyers pay cash when goods are delivered)
This cash on delivery market has a 30 percent return rate
Web 1.0 and 2.0 are happening at the same time in India, says Anandan.