The number of Indian cities and towns which have a critical Internet subscriber base of over 2000 is expected to double in the next year.

At present, there are 382 such locations in India which have at least 2,000 Internet connections, according to a survey conducted by Nasscom.

The Internet survey, conducted in 68 Indian cities and towns also indicated that the number of Internet subscribers will jump from the current figure of l.6 million to 50 million by 2008.

A majority of the respondents expect the real growth of the Internet in India to take place through cable TV. The number of cable TV subscribers will increase from 37 million as on August 2000 to 70 million in 2008. The survey also indicated that more than 81 per cent stand-alone PCs sold during 1999-2000 were driven by the need to access the Internet.

49 per cent of Indians accessing the Internet belong to the age group of 18-24 years, and 28 per cent of the Internet users belong to the in 25-39 age group. Only 3 per cent of the Internet users came from the 55-plus age group.

On the gender side, males continue to outnumber females at accessing the Internet. Compared to a figure of 77 per cent in favour of males last year, males occupy 82 per cent this year, leaving only 18 per cent female users.

According to the survey, the Internet and e-commerce industry has a potential to employ 1 million people in India by March 2005. At present, about 1 lakh people are employed as web designers, system analysts, ISP infrastructure providers, marketing and e-software professionals.

As per the Nasscom survey, the most frequent users of the Internet usually access from, either work, home or cyber-cafes. On an average, users in India access the Internet for 6 hours a week. About 48 per cent of adults accessing the Internet at work did so daily, as compared to 29 per cent accessing the Internet from home and less than l5 per cent of those accessing from other places.

Internet usage is dominated by the professional/corporate segments, which account for around 43 per cent.

Of the total Internet users, around 20 per cent own credit cards and around 14 per cent own mobile phones.

Advertising on the Net is projected to touch the Rs 750-crore mark by 2003 as compared to Rs 14 crore in 1999-2000.