| NRI INDIANS 2006 RESEARCH IDENTIFIES NRI INTERNET PATTERNS AND PREFERENCES AND COMPARES BEHAVIOR OF NRI FROM VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD IN STAYING CONNECTED WITH INDIA
Half the online NRI are South Indians in origin
Almost every second online Indian is from South India (54%). North India origin NRI come next at 23%, followed by western regions ones at 19%.
This dominance of NRI from South India among the online NRI is because of their very heavy presence in Gulf, where every 2 out of 3 online NRI is of South Indian origin. However, at the same time, 1 in every 3 west-based online NRI is also from South India (36%).
Online NRI are largely ‘mature' males
Online NRI are also significantly older in age than online Indians in India. While two-thirds of the online Indians in India (70%) are below 30 years of age, only about one-third online NRI (39%) are below 30 years in age.
Only 1 in 5 online NRI (19%) is a woman. This is noticeably lower than the proportion women form among the online Indians in India (25%).
‘Family connection' is largely what keeps online NRI hooked to India By and large two-thirds of the NRI, irrespective of whether they are based in gulf or in other parts of the world feel that what binds them to India is their ‘family' back home. Gulf ones highlight family connection somewhat more.
In fact, only about 1 in 4 online NRI feels connected to India because of patriotic feelings for the home country or towards its culture and heritage.
They track India's economic progress more keenly than its entertainment By and large online NRI are more interested in the ‘economic progress' and ‘political stability' of the country (India) than anything else. Interestingly, this is in quite in variance to what generally online Indians in India are interested in.
This contrast is also reflected in the Indian role models that online NRI have as compared to the online Indians. While online Indians see business, sports and cinema celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Dhirubahi Ambani, Sachin Tendulkar or Shah Rukh Khan as the relatively bigger role models in their lives (apart from their parents), the online NRI look at APJ Abdul Kalam, Mahatma Gandhi and Manmohan Singh as bigger role models than these celebrities.
Online NRI show high level of keenness to invest in India Despite very high current ownership of assets in India, a significant proportion of online NRI would like to invest further in India, especially in the physical assets.
Though 2 out of 3 online NRI already have bank accounts and houses back in India, almost half the online NRI would still like to invest in a house or land in India in the near future. In comparison only around 1 in 4 online NRI would like to invest in financial assets.
For entertainment, online NRI connect with Indian music the most In terms of connectivity with Indian ‘entertainment', online NRI listen to Indian music the most regularly. Three out of 4 online NRI (75%) listens to Indian music everyday. In comparison, only 35% watch Indian movie everyday, 36% watch Indian sports everyday and 17% check Indian fashion everyday.
Most online shopping NRI buy from Indian websites Overall 3 out of 4 online NRI who buy online (75%) also buy from an Indian websites. While 82% of gulf-based NRI who buy online also buy from an Indian websites, 70% of west-based NRI who buy online also buy from an Indian website.
Air tickets are the most bought items online from the Indian websites. Almost half the online shopping NRI who buy from Indian websites buy air tickets online. The other popularly bought online products from the Indian websites are CD and DVDs, books and magazines, gifts and travel and tour packages.
A CONTRAST BETWEEN GULF BASED AND WEST BASED NRIS West-based NRI are generally the heavier users of the net, but not the heavier users of Indian content on the net
Between the two NRI groups, the west-based online NRI rely on Internet relatively more to stay connected with happenings in India. While 2 out of 3 west-based online NRI (64%) prefer to stay updated with happenings in India online, only about 1 in 3 gulf-based online NRI (39%) prefers Internet to do so.
But gulf-based online NRI have significantly lower incomes Almost 40% of west-based online NRI have monthly family incomes of over US$ 5,000. In comparison, only 14% gulf-based NRI have such high level of incomes. In fact, almost half of gulf-based online NRI have monthly incomes of less than US$ 2,000.
Gulf-based ones also have fewer broadband connections at home Only 1 in 4 of gulf-based online NRI who use the net from home has a broadband connection at home. In sharp contrast to this, 3 out of 4 west-based online NRI using the net from home have broadband access from home.
Rediff and Times of India are the most popular Indian websites with them Online NRI, whether from gulf or from western countries, visit the websites of Rediff and The Times of India the most for checking content about India.
For the specific online activities the preferred websites from India are as follows:
Online Activity |
Top Website |
% Preference (All Online NRI) |
Most visited Indian website |
Rediff |
11 |
Info Search about India |
Google |
26 |
News & Events in India |
Times of India |
13 |
Search Jobs in India |
Naukri |
34 |
Online Friendships in India |
Yahoo |
34 |
Matrimony |
Shaadi |
48 |
Booking Travel Ticket to India |
Air India |
23 |
Online Shopping from India |
Ebay |
16 |
Real Estate info in India |
Google |
10 |
Indian Cinema content |
Bollywood |
9 |
Indian Sports content |
Cricinfo |
14 |
Indian Music content |
Raaga |
17 |
Indian Fashion content |
Indiafashion |
17 |
Online Games |
Yahoo |
32 |
Emailing |
Yahoo |
44 |
To sum up, online NRI are quite ‘distinct' from the online Indians living in India. Not only are they more ‘mature' in their age profile in comparison to the online Indians, but also have a highly ‘mature' perspective of what India really stands for and means to them.
Further, the momentum of the online NRI world (and who knows may be even of the entire NRI world) has quietly but surely shifted towards South India.
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