MUMBAI: A new report from the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) takes a comprehensive look at what women do online. Both Indian men and women value the internet for its efficiency and its strength as a gateway to inexhaustible reserve of information and experiences, and thus have their own interests and reasons to use the worldwide web.

Since 2004-05, the percentage of online users has increased by 54 per cent to 38.5 million users. Male online users increased in absolute numbers but dipped from 72 per cent (2004-05) to 68 per cent (2005-06) and women numbers increased from 28 per cent in 2004-05 to 32 per cent in 2005-06 [12.32 million]. The estimate for the male female ratio in the next two years is that it will be closer to 60:40 ratio but will still result in the absolute numbers of men being higher then women.

This research was undertaken by IAMAI in collaboration with Crosstab Marketing Services that surveyed 6365 respondents in December 2005. The research was undertaken with a view to ascertain the gender parity online with a primary focus on understanding the female demographic and their activities online giving marketers a better perspective while designing their marketing and promotional programs to cater to a defined online target audience.

IAMAI president Preeti Desai said, " The report showcases that 57 per cent of women log in from home; 46 per cent of women are unmarried followed by 38 per cent married women with kids; 78 per cent have been using internet since the last three years and tend to window shop online and are cautious online shoppers. The online population is well poised to grow to 100 million from the current 38.5 million users and percentage of women likely to increase to 40 per cent in the next two years. The findings of this research will help marketers to build their online infrastructure."