Indians' preferences when it comes to navigating on certain websites are definitely inclined towards Google. The company's websites were the most popular in India in May 2008, as a comScore report shows. With almost 20 million visitors, Google manages to overpass Yahoo!, which was first in the Indian rankings in the same month of 2007.

While Google scored a 35% growth in the number of unique users, its rival, Yahoo!, had a slower rate of consumer development, namely 28%. Microsoft sites, which occupy the third position in the chart, are far from catching up with the competitors. With nearly 12 million users, only 11% more than last year, they have more chances to be overtaken by Rediff.com India Ltd sites, which hold the fourth position, but have a better development rate.

"India truly represents one of the most promising emerging Internet markets, given both the size and technological sophistication of the population," says Jack Flanagan, comScore executive vice president. "While global Internet brands like Google and Yahoo! currently reign as the most visited Web properties in India, several local players also have strong positions in the market." Indeed, five out of the ten most popular web properties in India are local.

The report also shows that young people between 15 and 24 years old are the most engaged in online activities, as they spend approximately 12 hours a month connected to the Internet. The average duration of an online session is 28 minutes while the number of sessions initiated by Indian users reaches, on average, 25. The most appealing domains, considering the growth of Indian users who are interested in them, seem to be Maps (which registered a 64% growth in 2007), Sports, with 60% up, Entertainment-Movies, which increased the number of visitors with 55% in 2007 and Finance - News/Research, whose percentage of users grew with 52% last year.