New Delhi, Sept 16(ANI): Google has predicted that India will add 200 million Internet users by 2014, but Internet firms' survival will be challenging in the wake of television and newspapers grabbing major advertising revenue and the government considering stringent regulations in the information technology sector.
Google's India head Rajan Anandan said the company expects India to have at least 300 million Internet users by 2014 in the wake of telecom carriers investing in high-speed wireless networks
But Google's predictions rely on smartphones becoming cheaper in the next two years, the Wall Street Journal reports.
India currently has the third-largest Internet users, after China and the U.S.
"Despite a lot of the infrastructure challenges we have as a country, 100 million Indians are online, they're spending a huge amount of time online and they're doing a varied set of things online," Anandan said.
Though Indian online advertisement revenue is only about 200 million dollars per year out of total 80 billion dollars, Anandan said Google believes the figure will increase quickly.
He pointed out that 65 percent of car buyers surf the Internet as their first information source, which has "a huge impact on advertising as well as commerce."
Anandan called on the government to aid the Internet growth.
Google had earlier expressed concerns about new Indian Web censorship rules, saying they hold the Internet companies liable for content posted by third parties. (ANI)
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