Milestones in India’s Internet Journey
This month of August marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of Internet in India. There have been various reports in the media tracing the evolution of Internet and its impact on Indian business and society. To get a perspective on this, it is necessary to understand the chronological sequence of events that punctuate India’s internet journey. I looked around on the web but couldn’t find anything which is comprehensive enough; hence decided to do this myself. So here’s my attempt at compiling a comprehensive list of milestones (including many ‘first to dos’) that calibrate India’s Internet boom.
1995
- VSNL introduces internet in India via dialup in 6 cities on Aug 14,1995
1996
- Rediff.com launched by Ajit Balakrishnan
- India’s first cyber café called “Cybercafe” launched in a Mumbai hotel
1997
- First online banking site launched by ICICI Bank
- Naukri.com launched; this becomes India’s first profitable dotcom
- Sabeer Bhatia’s Hotmail sold to Microsoft for $400 million in USA ; he becomes the poster boy of the Internet age to Indians
1998
- India introduces new ISP policy which ends VSNL’s monopoly on internet
- Sify becomes India’s first ISP
- First major hacking case-teenagers hack data on BARC’s servers
- Launch of Nasscom by Dewang Mehta, a chartered accountant by profession to promote IT industry
- Cybercafés start mushrooming across Indian cities
1999
- Indiaworld sold to SIFY for $115 million;this triggers off the dotcom boom
- Large number of dotcoms appear, mostly modeled as e-marketplaces but have untested revenue models
- Webdunia, India’s first and most successful Hindi portal launched
2000
- IT ACT 2000 passed by the Indian Parliament
- Bazzee.com launched based on the EBay model
- Indya.com launched with Rs 4.5 crore campaign blitz
- Foreign portals set up shop in India; Yahoo & MSN launch Indian sites -yahoo.co.in & msn.co.in respectively
- Birth of online journalism-Tehelka.com exposes cricket betting scandal
- ITC launches E-Choupal initiative to take the internet to the villages
2001
- First cyber crime related arrest-2 arrested for hacking go2nextjob.com
- Indian Railways launches online ticketing site, irctc.com
- India’s first cyber crime police station opens in Bangalore
- Dotcom bubble bursts – some sites close, some go into hibernation
2002
- HomeTrade fiasco– brokerage site launched with Rs 65 crore blitz goes bust
- New dotcoms start emerging with more refined revenue models
2003
- AirDeccan becomes first airlines to offer online ticketing in India
- Phase of consolidation and stocktaking for Indian dotcoms
2004
- Dotcoms start exercising exit options
- EBay buys out Bazee.com & Monster.com buys Jobsahead.com
- First Indian Dotcoms IPOs are successful– indiabulls.com & indiainfoline.com
- A high profile cyber crime exposes sheer inadequacy of India’s IT laws - Baazee CEO jailed for MMS scandal
2005 (circa)
- 40 million net users (4% of total estimated net users in the world)
- 200,000 cyber cafes in country (accounting for 60% of net users)
- more than 1000,000 users do online share trading
- half a million broadband connections
- Rs 570 crore total e-commerce transactions in India
- Average no of transactions per month – 440000
- Average value per transaction – Rs 1080
- Indian Railway online ticketing accounts for 63% of ecommerce(Rs 370 cr.)
- ITC E-Choupal demonstrates rural internet adoption - expands to 5300 kiosks serving 3.2 million farmers
(In case any significant event has escaped my attention, feel free to point out and I shall make sure to append it to the above list )
29 comments
vERY GOOD JOB DONE aMIT! kEEEP UP YOUR PROFESSIONALL APPROACH - VERY INSPIRING I MUST SAY!
Imran, thanks for stopping by. This is early days in blogging for me but its good to know others find my blog useful. That post actually required a lot of background research .
I want my blog to focus mostly on India specific topics/issues/content. Most Indian bloggers dont seem to be focussing on India centric technology and business trends .
Hey Amit,
I’m a little amazed by your commitment to this blog. Unlike you who heads a firm, I’m only a Sr. Analyst with an MNC in Hyderabad. On the one hand I am so inspired by people like you and blog’s like yours, on the other I’m puzzled - how in the world do I find time for all this.
Please carry on with this inspirational writing - looking forward to it all!
All the Best!
Imran
Hi Amit,
This article would have required a lot of research!!! Good job!! I want to use some data from here for my business plan… how would I prove the authenticity of the data? Any pointers from you would be helpful.
Thanks,
Suresh.
well done. amit
maya ranjan
do next job and try hard to aim new action.may god
enter in ur heart and show u a path
It’s really amazing. This data as an academician, I found very useful and I am sure many more will be benefiting from this effort. I offer my services to this noble cause.
Two search related milestones I would like to point out.
In 2005, the first search engine for India (Terrawiz.com) as well as the first vertical search for India (Bixee.com) launched.
Mr Amit has done a good job. This comprehensive history will be of much use,I am sure.
Thank you
Very informative.
about your next article .. i would like you to write something about kashmiri pandits.
What problem they face?
What is there status in kashmir?
Have many questions .. trying a blog myself on it.
best of luck and no need to say ur blog is Gr8
Hey
Great work
Inspires wannabe enterprenurs like me
I’m just 18 years old and am looking to start a .com biz !!!!!
Thanks a lot
Dear Amit, I was just looking for the history of Internet services in India. Well this was a good work done by you. Great…. Thanks a lot.
I wonder if any institute in India was able to connect to internet before 1995.. If you find please add that also to the list.
Few facts but a very good job done by you.
[…] Amit Ranjan […]
Hi! This stuff is really helpful.. Could you please also write up the sources of this information. For e.g. Rs 570 crore total e-commerce transactions in India - based on _____ (?)
Thanks a ton!
Hi,
Geojit Financial Services Ltd, launched India’s first brokerage platform in 2000.
i am narayan ghosh ,from kolkata , work with you
A fantastic read. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Worth building on through a collaborative process.
please tell me which year internet introduce in india.
nice job …. keep it up!!!
nd thanx a lot.
Hi Amit, Great Page!
I am updating my own web site (I am an entrepreneur) and thought of adding some small nice old story about the startup of Internet in India. I remembered well I started using Internet since February 1997, but was unsure whether the Internet itself started on August 1996 or August 1995. I searched Google and found your page!
Now I am putting “August 1995″ as the startup time of Internet in India, on my web site!
Thanks for putting up this information.
BTW would you like to add the startup rates also? … In February 1997, the Shell Account (i.e. Text-only (CUI) access) costed exactly Rs. 250/- per hour, for a speed of about 19.6 kbps. The TCP/IP was costing Rs. 500/- per hour. Note, “telephone charges” were over and above these “Internet Access” charges.
In those days my own salary, which was a fairly high figure, in a big and reputed organization, was close to about the Shell Account per-hour charges, for an entire day of hardwork!!
Today, for my personal use, I spend the same amount PER MONTH, for a connection that is exactly 100 times faster and far more reliable.
Rajendra.
Hi Amit,
Great Work, I would like to use this is my Research Thesis, I hope you have no issues if I include your name in that, I will also mention your website source
Thanks and Regards,
Manu
this will be the 15 or 16 anniversary for internet journey!!! cheers
Hi Amit,
Some more points from My research: Please add if you like
2006
• Reform & Development in IT - Faculty Updation Programme of C-DAC was launched, which provides a unique opportunity for the faculty of various engineering colleges to have exposure to the rich research and development (R&D) experience of C-DAC.
2007
• Arzoo.com was re-launched as a travel portal by Sabir Bhatia.
2008
• Launch of 3G Services in New Delhi by MTNL
2009
• Launch of 3G services in Chennai by BSNL
Thanks,
Manu Sharma
One more point, I think Internet was introduced in India on 15 August 1995, What do you want to say here….
yes, this is true…
Very informative article, i guess lot of home work has gone into writing these facts.
Thanks alot bro…nice work!
internet is an ocean.
i agree that internet is make many impact in india
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