Juxtconsult has recently released a report “NRI Online 2010”, which gives some interesting insights on online behavior patterns of NRIs. We have earlier featured some insights on non-resident Indians (NRIs) and this reports adds quite a few that you may find interesting.
Contents
Online Behavior of a Non Resident Indian
- Overall 1 out of 4 online NRI has a PIO status (highest in the West)
- 2 out of 3 have been living in the current country for longer than 3 years
- Almost 1 in 3 online NRI lives alone (highest in the Gulf)
- Majority are ‘above 30’ years in age (more ‘mature’ in the Gulf and West)
- More of them belong to ‘South’ India (especially in Gulf and Asia Pacific)
- Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam are the biggest native languages (Gujarati, Punjabi stand out in the West more)
- More of them come from the smaller ‘tier 3’ towns in India (less so in the West)
Popular Indian Websites with NRIs
Online Activity | Top Website | % Use Most (All Online NRI) |
General news about India |
26% |
|
Business & economic news from India |
17% |
|
Financial info from India (quotes, rates, etc) |
13% |
|
Jobs in India |
62% |
|
Real estate info in India |
17% |
|
Social networking in India |
35% |
|
Professional networking in India |
39% |
|
Matrimony |
39% |
|
Friendship/Dating |
Orkut |
25% |
Picture sharing |
22% |
|
PC to PC net telephony with India |
44% |
|
PC to Phone net telephony with India |
Skype |
18% |
Check travel/tourism info about India |
12% |
|
Travel products for India |
15% |
|
Online shopping from India (non-travel products) |
19% |
|
Transfer money online to India |
19% |
|
Indian video / picture galleries |
30% |
|
Indian cinema |
Bollywood |
14% |
Indian music |
19% |
|
Indian sports |
32% |
NRI connection with India
- 3 out of 4 online NRI cite ‘family’ as their main motivation for both staying connected with India and for traveling to India (more so the Gulf and West ones)
- Gulf ones follow happenings in India the most frequently. Indian ‘news channels’ are the most popular ‘offline’ medium to stay connected with India
- More Gulf and West based ones travel to India. Asia Pacific ones travel to India the most frequently
- 1 in 3 book their air tickets online (West ones do so significantly more)
- 3 out of 4 online NRI call India at least once a week (Gulf ones most frequently)
- ISD calls from mobile phones is the most popular mode of calling India (highest among Gulf NRI, West ones use calling cards relatively more)
I think Indians (and possibly Chinese) are the only people who even after staying abroad who are very close to their motherland (some may disagree here). One of our commentators gave an interesting twist to Raymond’s punch line –
“You can take a man out of India but you cannot take India out of a man!”
What say guys? do you agree with this?