RITWIK DONDE

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2006 12:00:32 AM]
 
MUMBAI: When cyber cafés began mushrooming across Indian cities they were considered a window to the world, a source of knowledge and information. Parents and teachers were a happy lot, expecting the youth to make full use of the new technology.

But, having coming under constant security scanner and being touted as shady joints promoting vices, the industry seems to be in the doldrums, with a majority of small players exiting the business.

ApiAp conducted a sample survey on Cyber Cafes in Mumbai in June 2005. A random 40 cafes in Mumbai - South, Western Suburbs, & Central suburbs participated in the survey.

The primary data collection and survey was done by Mr Anshu Shukla & Shrish Kumar Tiwari , students of the Indian Institute of Information Technology ( IIIT) Allahabad, India.

Summary of the Survey:

The cyber café owners surveyed most of them offered Internet access, print & scan service.
77% of 40 respondents ’s cafe existence is less than 3 years 92.5% claimed they are some what satisfied with business.
80% of cafe own 6 to 10 terminals Most have invested less than Rs 200 thousand.

If your an existing cyber cafe operator or plan to start one. Here is a simple revenue estimator. Click on the link for the worksheet: http://www.icoagh.com/icoagh_cyberguide.xls (MS-Excel 219 KB )
Courtesy: Internet Cafe Operators Association of Ghana

Economic Times  MUMBAI reports : Online commerce is projected to jump more than four times to about Rs 2,300 crore in ‘06-07 as a rapid growth in cyber cafes across the nation spur a craze for internet shopping.

Internet users did online business worth about Rs 570 crore in ‘04-05. The figure is expected to grow to Rs 2,300 crore by ‘06-07, according to a report titled ‘Online activities and e-commerce from cyber cafes’ conducted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India.

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