--- title: "Top Web Apps in India" date: 2006-10-10 author: "Richard MacManus" categories: - name: "ReadWriteWeb" url: "/category/readwriteweb.md" tags: - name: "2006" url: "/tag/2006.md" --- # Top Web Apps in India *Co-written with [Neeraj Kumar](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://neeraj.name/) of [India Upcoming](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://indiaupcoming.com/)* ![india flag](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311im_/http://static.flickr.com/113/265933360_9bd9f0acf3.jpg?v=0)It’s an exciting time for the economy in India, which is also reflected in its Web market. India has 1.1 Billion people and the average age of the nation is just 24.9 years. The Indian GDP is growing at 8% + and after years of dependence on the agriculture sector, now the service sector contributes more than 50% of the GDP. It’s testament to the growth of the service sector that even though India produces 350,000 new engineers a year, there is still a shortage of graduates to meet the demand of the high GDP growth rate ([ source: LA Times](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-engineer23sep23,0,1321064.story?coll=la-home-business)). ## Internet usage The number of Internet users in India is estimated at between [45 Million](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.contentsutra.com/the-state-of-the-indian-internet-market) and [50 Million](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/world_internet_penetration_sept06.php). That makes India the 4th biggest country in the world in terms of total Internet users – behind only the US, China and Japan. However due to India’s huge population, its Internet Penetration is among the lowest in the world [at only 4.5%](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/world_internet_penetration_sept06.php). What’s more, it is estimated that only 10 million of those users are real power users who spend money online. While there is seemingly a lot of room for growth in the Indian market, a recent report [quoted by contentSutra](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.contentsutra.com/the-state-of-the-indian-internet-market) indicates that “there’s a long way to go before a critical mass is reached…” Another challenge is that there are [23 mainstream languages](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_languages_of_India) that are spoken in India. ## Top Web apps NOTE: We can’t hope to cover all the web apps in India, so please don’t be offended if we’ve missed your app. We invite you to add more Indian web apps in the comments section. **India’s eBay** [Bazee.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.ebay.in/) ( it means ‘betting’ in Hindi) was probably the first Indian website to make a buzz in the market, when it was acquired by eBay. It’s still very successful and a thriving site in India. **Matrimonial sites** In India there are lot of matrimonial sites. The complete list is available at [http://indiaupcoming.com/tag/matrimonial](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://indiaupcoming.com/tag/matrimonial). Among them all, [Shaadi.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.shaadi.com/) and [BharatMatrimony.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.bharatmatrimony.com/) are probably the most successful. Both of these sites have plans to diversify into other regional languages too. **Online Travel** Although currently the online travel sector comprises a mere 2.2 per cent of the domestic travel market, it has the potential for high growth and the field is heating up. Among the players, [MakeMyTrip.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://makemytrip.com/) is very successful – although it’s facing tough competition from other notable players like [Yatra.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://yatra.com/) and [Arzoo.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.arzoo.com/). It should be noted that Arzoo.com is founded by [Sabeer Bhatia](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabeer_Bhatia), the co-founder of Hotmail. **Digg clones** It’s interesting to note that there are [a number of digg.com clones](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://indiaupcoming.com/tag/community+voting) – but none of them has any major traction in the market. There is also [rambhai.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.rambhai.com/), which was emailed to me recently with the note: “Yes from the tech perspective it is like a Digg clone. But the content and community are genuinely Indian and that is our focus.” So it is localized content, which has been a theme in this series. **News Portals** [Rediff.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.rediff.com/) is the most widely used news portal. It’s a public company and provides services in matrimonial, auction, classified, shopping, travel deals, chat, photo albums, social networking, and more. **Jobs** [Naukri.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.naukri.com/) is the most widely used job portal and it has a significant lead over rivals like [MonsterIndia.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.monsterindia.com/) **Real estate** The growth in the service sector has fuelled growth in the real estate market in India. There are a number of players, but [99acres.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.99acres.com/) took an early lead in this field by using well positioned ads. **Online movie rentals** [Seventymm.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://bangalore.seventymm.com/Browse/Default.aspx) is India’s largest online movie rental service, offering access to over 10,000 titles across multiple languages. In this field the competitors are [CatchFlix.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://catchflix.com/), [ClixFlix.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://clixflix.com/), [HomeView.in](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://homeview.in/) and [CineSprite.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.cinesprite.com/) **Web Office** [Zoho](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.zoho.com/) is a sponsor of ReadWriteWeb and it is from India. It produces world class collaborative tools and is highly regarded in India. **Online Photos** There are a number of sites where one can upload the pictures of a trip to Disneyland – and a copy of those pictures will be mailed (as in snail mail, not email!) to the family in India. This service is targeted towards Indians who are in the US or UK, and whose family don’t have internet services in their home in India. Players in this field are [123Shots](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.123shots.com/), [itasveer](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.itasveer.com/), [Picsquare](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.picsquare.com/) and [Merasnap](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.merasnap.com/). **Other notable sites** - [Pixrat.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.pixrat.com/) is a popular social bookmark for pictures. - [Burrp!](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.burrp.com/) is a fun and easy way to check out and share reviews and recommendations about establishments in your city and your neighborhood. - [Tezaa](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.tezaa.com/) is an online community that is all about polls. - [MouthShut.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.mouthshut.com/) is a platform for consumers to voice their opinions on thousands of products and services. - [DesiMatch.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.desimatch.com/) is a dating site. - [RadioVeRVe](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://radioverve.com/) (formerly Infinity Radio) is for independent musicians across the country to promote themselves. - [Bixee.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.bixee.com/) is a web-crawling robot that visits websites containing job information. - [BangaloreLive.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.bangalorelive.in/) and [MumbaiLive.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.mumbailive.in/) are sites providing local news, music and gossip. - [MeraVideo.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://meravideo.com/) and [ApnaTube.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.apnatube.com/) are video sharing sites. **Disclaimer:**[Neeraj Kumar](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://neeraj.name/) contributed to this article and the site [IndiaUpcoming.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://indiaupcoming.com/) is maintained by him. **Richard’s note:** I want to thank Neeraj very much for all the great information in this post. As with all the other International posts we’ve done on Read/WriteWeb, there are bound to be web apps we’ve neglected to mention. For that I apologize in advance, but please feel free to add them to the comments here. Also if you are familiar with India’s web market, we’d love to hear your views and stories. This post is part of Read/WriteWeb’s continuing coverage of international Web markets. Other countries profiled so far have been [Germany](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_ten_german.php), [Holland](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_dutch_web_2.php), [Poland](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_polish_webapps.php), [Korea](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_korean_webapps.php), [United Kingdom](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_uk_web_20_apps.php), [Russia](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_russian_web_apps.php), [Spain](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_spanish_web_apps.php), [China](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_web_apps_china.php), [Turkey](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_web_apps_turkey.php), [Italy](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_italian_web_apps.php), [Brazil](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_web_apps_in_brazil.php), [France](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/france_web_market.php) and [Japan](https://web.archive.org/web/20110519123311/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/japan_top_web_apps.php). *Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/india_top_web_apps.php))*