15 Years of Internet in India: Book, stats by Verisign

According to the press release from Verisign,

The Internet economy in India has been in existence for more than 15 years. During this time, it has revolutionized businesses, the economy and society. Key India Internet facts include,

• With 81 million Internet users1 India today ranks fourth in terms of Internet users worldwide
• Rediff.com was the first .com domain name registered in India in 1996
• India has 180,000 cyber cafes and 75,0002 Community Service Centres (CSCs)3 that cater to the Internet access needs of consumers
• www.irctc.in, the website of the Indian Railways Catering and Ticketing Corporation, is the most searched website4
• 84 percent of total Internet users visit social networking sites in India5
• India’s mobile market is predicted to reach 868.47 million users by 20136
• The mobile Internet is primarily used to check emails and search for information7.
• India has registered a total of 1.037 million .com and .net domain names8
• India is predicted to have the third largest number of Internet users by 20139

I registered my domain mahesh.com on Jan 26, 1995 (republic day!)

During the event the book “15 Years of the Internet in India” was launched. I was glad to be one of the contributors to this book (my first one), my contribution was to the chapter “From NRIs to Indians to Global Citizens: Evolution of the Indian Presence on the Internet”.