India Huge Growth Market for BitTorrent Sites
Written by Ernesto on November 19, 2008BitTorrent’s popularity is on the rise in India, and with a massive increase in broadband subscribers just around the corner, it is the number one growth market for BitTorrent sites. With a population of over 1.1 billion people and only 4.5 million broadband subscribers, there is huge amount of untapped potential.
With a quarter billion mobile phone users, India is no stranger to technology. Up until recently, however, broadband Internet access was only available to a few. Although the number of broadband subscribers is growing rapidly, less than 0.5% of the entire population has an Internet connection.
Times are changing though. After the mobile phone revolution managed to get more than 250 million Indians connected, the government is now aiming to increase broadband Internet penetration in India. The current target is 20 million broadband subscribers by the end of 2010, and 50 million by 2012, a 1000% increase compared to approximately 5 million now.
The increase in the number of Indian BitTorrent users compared to previous years has not gone unnoticed. Mininova, for example, is reporting a 300% increase in traffic from India compared to last year, and for most BitTorrent sites India recently entered the top 10 of traffic sources. If the target of 20 million broadband subscribers is indeed reached, India will be the number one traffic source for most BitTorrent sites by the end of 2010.
Of course, BitTorrent indexers are not the only sites that are affected by the growing levels of Internet access in India, but they do tend to be traffic magnets. Data from the traffic comparison site Alexa shows that there are three BitTorrent sites among the 100 most visited websites in India. Mininova, Torrentz and The Pirate Bay are listed in 39th, 46th and 100th place respectively, and isoHunt is not far behind.
Two factors that have undoubtedly contributed to the popularity of BitTorrent, are the availability of unlimited data plans and an increase in connection speeds. In India, most ISPs initially offered metered plans, where 1 GB of data cost somewhere around $10. Today however, almost every ISP has an unlimited plan with a decent download speed for $50 (which is a lot in India), as well as lower rate plans with reasonable speed limits.
After China, India has the highest growth rate of all emerging economies in the world, and Internet access is quickly becoming affordable to a larger group of people. So, don’t be surprised when you see hundreds of Indian IPs in your peers list in a few years from now, if the Internet hasn’t collapsed by then.
Previously: Mininova Trials Video Torrent Ads
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53 Responses
One small point that should be noted, in India $10 and $50 is not the same as in the west… its a decent amount there and $50 a month is still quite expensive for a lot of people there.
Come on India, catch up… use that population so that the next time i need seeds on a file i see 100k seeds :p
Cheers!
I Am from India too… read ur blog almost daily.. nice to read u guys write an article abt India too
@1
It shall take a long time, since the average person is very much poor. I bet that the MPAA, IFPI, &c. would still see it as “stealing” even when people can’t afford to “buy” whatever it is that they hold the rights to. In any case, hopefully, India will not be swayed by the IFPI &c. at all.
Roze
http://www.10ch.org/
@3 of course the mpaa & riaa or the Indian equivalent will see it as that and will probably try to get them to make a law that parallels the 3 strike proposal…
One things for sure were India is concerned, it will be cheap :)
If you can understand them, that is!
http://www.aquariumfish.me
Concurrently, there will be an influx of indian porn.
Yay for purple vaginas!
It was very evident that the only direction to go with pirating was up.. after the cat got out of the box. Theres still people that think that piracy needs to be hush hush in order to be secure.. those days are so far gone.. and the only security we have left is the same as a fish in a huge school.. hoping not to get chomped by the shark.
Strength in numbers is good, sadly its our only choice right now. The more people you teach to use bittorrent, you lower your chance of being caught yourself.
What will happen if our main sources of material collapse is actualy scary to think about.. its more of an issue then you think. ISP’s would even suffer. It would go back to the days where you had to HUNT down material to get it.. but the amount of people trying to obtain it would be astonishing.
What would happen if Mininova, TPB and isohunt went down? The smaller sites couldnt take the stress.. soon enough..
Also.. could they use there traffic for evil? They could crush websites by redirecting all there traffic to another website causing a complete overflow of traffic.. its pretty crazy if you think about hits or people as just little peices of sand that you can manipulate.
I’m from INDIA too, TF’s estimates r too optimistic..yeah, I recognize INDIA has a High potential, but who cares about potential,when the Implementation of the NET plans are utterly poor on the ground & the IT dept. of the Govt. running haywire to provide the “so called” Unlimited 256k’b'ps Broadband plans…which mayb less than the lowest Narrowband plans in the developed nations of the Bittorrent world!
Are there any torrentsites in India?
Jozey
http://5chan.ru – filesharing discussion
It’s a damn shame an inordinate # of their fellow countrymen have already proven themselves to be overwhelmingly comprised of cheaters, traders, sellers, scammers, leechers, and the like. Private tracker admins are already alert to the red-flag that is represented by an Indian ISP – lets hope for the sake of the torrenting community at large this “3/4″ of the country will rebel against their brethren’s misgivings.
Too bad Indian broadband sucks arse.
I read from TweakGuides that average broadband connection there is around 512kbps down and 128-256kbps up + 400mb-1gb monthly cap. This is ridicluous
There is a nice example of BitTorrent being used to distribute an offline copy of Wikipedia to help with internet connectivity: http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/charity-news/2008-wikipedia-for-schools.htm
Or indeed covered here
http://torrentfreak.com/wikipedia-dvd-released-on-bittorrent-081024/
We shall see. If it took this long to get big their i’m skeptical on how long it will take them to embrace it.
Visit P2P Tech Time
http://www.p2ptechtime.com
It’s not like all of the US has awesome broadband.
I’ve got a 1.5 kbps down and that’s it. It’s not like I’m in the middle of nowhere, it’s pretty close to a large city. I’ve had the same speed for years now; and it’s just not speeding up like it should.
@10
so 1/4th of the indian’s are scammers? lol did you even read the article. It says 0.5% has currently access to internet. In that I would bet that there is no more than 0.2% that uses torrents.
1.1 billion with 0.2% scammers, I can live with that
I just wanted to point out a few facts.
In India you get:
1 gb cap 256 up and down for a princely sum of 5 Dollars a month and
Unlimited 256 up and down for a princely sum of 10 bucks.
We have speeds up to 8 Mbps …
Not bad for a country which till recently was called a less developed nation.
So have faith all ye who are faithless
“Not bad for a country which till recently was called a less developed nation.”
Recently???? who the **** stopped calling India a less developed nation? it still is a 3rd world country and IS a less developed nation.
You may be proud of your country, but please dont fool yourself.
Been there recently: bombay, hyderabad and madras (chennai?) and to the internet centers… 20 machines run off a dialup line, a real pleasure to browse the net on I must say because you can have a meal and come back between page requests.
@18
yeah, they must concentrating on feeding the orphan children… sad they don’t have you to lead them
thank you torrent freak for your article on India.
i’m from india. I feel a bit ashamed that we cannot be super seeders because even 2Mbps bandwidth is a luxury here and above that is not provided for home users.
Shamefully, high speed internet is 64 Kbps/96Kbps and most of the ‘broadband’ plans are for 256 Kbps (promised, not actual!) with a data transfer limit of 1GB/2.5GB
Spending more on Broadband pipes to increase the bandwidth available at people’s homes is not a priority of the Indian Central or State governments, because it doesn’t get them many votes! Even to this day, jobs, roads, free electricity, caste, religion, etc., are the dominating issues during Elections in India.
I wish the politicians here matured to understand the needs and aspirations of youth!
Hopefully, the situation will change in the future. I say ‘hopefully’ because that is all that we can do.
Before saying good-bye, I want to thank the entire bittorrent uploaders and seeders communities for continuing to share content on bittorrent, though we cannot reciprocate with equal vigor right now.
a disproportionately large number of top uploaders on h33t are Indian. these guys are smart, educated and keen. they make excellent contributors, you want them in your torrent community
what is the more, the content available on filesharing networks is otherwise unavailable to the average Indian because either it is way too costly or it simply is not there to purchase. the relative impact of open access for Indians to the digital wealth of the dollar and euro economic zones is going to drive the popularity and acceptance of filesharing in India
this is what filesharing is all about, freedom of access and information driving opportunity for people all over the world. the sad individuals above who had less than a gracious comment about Indians are the weak ones
http://www.h33t.com welcomes India to the wonderful world of filesharing
BB speed @256 kbps
8 hours for a movie
750 million poor.
And you speak of broadband?
Glad to see an article about India @ TF
I’m and Indian. Agreed that the broadband speeds here are no where close to whats available in western countries, but it’s not THAT bad either.
We do have 2mpbs/1mpbs/512k plans which i must admit are exorbitantly priced. The people who opt for the lower bandwidth plans, are usually the ones who don’t indulge in filesharing & hence don’t need so much bandwidth. The % who do indulge in filesharing generally go in for higher plans(512/256 mostly) with no cap.
So well yeah, situations not rosy and all, but not too bad either. Will only get better.
i red all replies i feel that people outside India are bit negative, i live in countryside and cities also i can have speed up to 2 mbps anywhere if i am ready to pay some extra amount and also i can get speed upto 8+ mbps in all cities
,as far file sharing concern it will take time to pickup round about 2012-14 and once its there it is going to dominate file sharing world
I wonder if the indian market is lagging behind in the areas of e-commerce? I’ve been talking with one of the largest “Internet Marketing Course” providers here, about a joint venture to reach india, by translating their product, and making the changes to insure all is workable in India.
I have friends in S. India, and I may be able to get it done through them, but would appreciate any interest in this, as I too believe India is an untapped market for many great products, imports and exports, and trade could be very beneficial to all.
Anyone interested in translation, I would like to hear from you. Najibahalima@gmail.com
Nice to See my country Growing!!!
India is certainly one of the best markets for bittorrent. Thanks for this post about my country.
nice to see that after the mobile revolution here, Indians are finally understanding the importance of free, unregulated information of internet, though the infrastructure here is still up in shackles, it is getting better..
however when it comes to p2p and bittorrent, the situation is not all that different from some other countries of the west, almost every one in the “y generation”, and college students have atleast once used it, and most of them do understand the advantages of it over the usual downloads…
I’m an Indian lol
Many countries in the East are growing in internet use. You can’t stereotype the East as poor and underdeveloped as much as in the past. Many Turks, Arabs, Indians, Persians, Pakistanis etc. use Torrents , Facebook and the internet just like the West. Society is becoming more and more globalized thanks to the internet!
hehe….nice article
INDIA..will catch up I think..The question is only when?….I live outside India for the last 4 years…and in the last 2 years…more or less 80% of my still-in-india-living friends have bought a PC and now has an internet connection…so u see the speed…but nonetheless it is naturally a problem to bring internet to everybdy…Let’s see hope for the best Indiaaaaaa go ..You can do it.
Yeah i’m pretty happy india’s getting aware of the bittorrent network.I’m from India too.My age is 14.Most of my frnzz are aware of these torrents.Out of my 60 classmates in school 50 of them might b havin a net connection.And around 10 people must be downloadin from these torrent sites.And yeah most people use this plan:2 mbps down/1 Gb cap=10$$ a month.I use 2mbps wid 4 gb cap(which includes free d/l’s from 2a.m to 8a.m).So yeah Indian Broadband and torrent users are growin.By 2012 there might be many local seeds around!!!:)))
Cheerz for India!!!!!!!!!!
India can put hardware onto the moon, but still suffers from poverty in the rural areas
http://translate.google.com ?????? ?? ???? ?? ??? ????? ???? ???
hey what the heck. Seems like good a place as any to me. Why not.
jess
http://www.privacy.mx.tc
I am an Indian, but I must say that Indian ISP’s suck lemon!! I’ve been hearing similar news for the past 3 years now but I really have not seen any REAL step taken forward by the government to push the number of broadband users (or computer users, for that matter). All they make is promises, nothing else. Hell, I am on a 512K unlimited connection but shell out Rs. 1600 a month (including service tax) which is more than $30. Tell you what, this so-called “untapped potential” is a wishful thinking, really. The reality is much, much further away.
Indian ISPs and the government, UP YOURS…
To ALL Indians, I have a question: When the fuck will the ISP take real steps to bring the tariff rates down, i.e., make the broadband internet REALLY affordable to the bourgeoisie? WHEN? When will it provide affordable loan scheme so that computers can be purchased by every household? WHEN! “May be when you’ll be having your own grandchildren”: the cliched reply.
5 million Indian broadband users? Surely there are twice, three times, or even four times the amount of broadband users using torrent sites in North America. How would India catch up to being the #1 source of torrent users?
very true. i live on torrents. india rocks!!!!
i am from india
My BB speed @1MBPS @45$ per month.
1 hours for a movie
At least, i can call it broadband :-) what say?
First came mobiles , not everyone in India could even think to afford it in the 90’s.
Now 250 million Indians are connected and still counting . Now coming back to bittorrent and broadband , PC and internet [ not broadband] have just started to get affordable. We will grow or rather explode [much like the population]. People here have just learnt bout Rapidshare here so bittorrent is still far away.
PS: for bitrorrent sites i belive India is a safe heaven [ CopyRight means the Right to copy :-) here ] . So Demonoid if you guys ever get in trouble again most welcome to come here. Also TPB spread ur servers here as well
our ISP may suck bigtime but DATA CENTERS ARE WORLD CLASS
Oh! Yeah Baby!
Thanks to Symtorrent (the one and only Bittorrent application for mobiles) I can share from my mobile when the nearest Internet Cafe is 60 kms away.
This reminds me of the saying
“Where there is a will , There is a way”
“I’LL BE BACK!” :-P
Let’s get ready for a new generation of indian spammers and hackers. This will be very interesting. Indian email chains, new types of fraud, and a lot of indian websites with probably a very particular taste in graphic and UI design.
well to point of fact…..there was an upgrade in the infrastructure in India optical lines are layed internal and extrnal of india…………..
with download of 3 G tech we can expect some more form them ……..
no dough that BT will hit the courts in India………..
Well its totally tru ..
I run a bolly private tracker site and release scene releases of bolly movies .. and we hav a registered 75k members …
bello
i don’t see my comment.
I personally, would like the “world” to believe that India is poor. Hahaha!
Just “wiki” Ashwin Navin.
Just in case you guys didn’t know who he is.
For so called Developed nations, India wasn’t anywhere when mobile revolution started but see now, about mobile subscribers from USA, forget about comparing, India have more mobile subscribers than whole American population!!!, ‘Cheap yet good quality’ is the best mantra of Indians to progress (As u know only CHEAP is the mantra of Chinese!) Do u know what r the calling rates in India for mobiles, u wont believe it. $1 for 8 hrs,30 minutes!!
So about broadband $15 for Unlimited @256kbps for 1 month. And one more thing, our communication minister have recently declared that government is preparing for free broadband for everyone.
About torrent awareness, Read this There is 90% possibility that you fellow readers computer could be running on a processors designed by an Indian (i.e. Intel). And maybe You r not aware that Indians are known as BIG DADDY’S of Software Tech over the whole world. Then u can guess peoples from India could know about Bittorrent?
Now Plz think 1000 times before calling india third world. Anyway thanks for article about India.
Happy file Sharing ;-)
well well well…. i live in heart of india means New Delhi, n let me clear one thing i m using 2 mbps Unlimited internet connection at my home for jus 1500 Rs (30$)and ya where ever i go whether its metro station or malls i found wireless internet connectivity at my laptop for free. and i think dis is not that bad. {i started using internet in year 2000 at that time we have only dialup option where we got 30kbps and 5kbps down.. speed , n then from 2003 i m using broadband with speed of 144kbps to 2mbps now} and its amazing. my service provider call me rapist of internet (internet ka balatkari) coz some time my pc is on for 2-3 months conti.. n i have one record of 6 months 2 years back, (and usually i download and upload more den 120 gb data in a month)and dis is my 15th computer.
proud to be an indian, proud to be an internet fucker. ha ha ha.
N one more thing after America & russia, India is the 5 Country to reach on moon. wid the lowest budget of Aproxx. 80 million usd where in japan its take 540 million and in us 460 million, for payload..
and 70 percent of the computer or other chips are exported from india.
i not domination any body, i m jus trying to clear that india is young country, and we got freedom in 1947. and we are trying are best to stand with every one.
we all are waiting for that time when Great leader Like Obama, will come to Lead our Young Country.
n one more thing after downloading a movie if it worth watching on hall, i always pay for it and view it on hall too. coz i respect the Artists and the invester who spend there precious time and money for a movie.
n all of u people who have never visited india we welcome u most. if u people dont know india is very beautiful, nd seventh wonder of the world n the mark of luv is here in india.
Now there’s a culture that loves it’s music and films! I believe the Bollywood soundtracks industry is supposed to be the biggest media industry in the world. Should be an interesting place to watch what happens, given that Hollywood has very little involvement with huge Indian cinema business!
I am from South India…. Here speeds are pretty lame compared to developed nations. Big towns can have upto 2Mbps and cities are having 8Mbps. The problem is b/w is capped. If you want to go unlimited (UL), then it’s extremely costly. I have 512kbps UL and pay $30 (1500) per month. At max in south, we can only get 1Mbps UL plans. But some ISPs provide with night browsing with 2Mbps UL. There are not many players for internet.
But sure enough I think it’s all about to change. With the introduction of WiMax (Relience, TATA etc) and 3G based EvDO(BSNL) we can surely see growth in broadband. For example some cities in Tamil Nadu are EVDO coverted and get UL connections @2.4Mbps for just $10. 3G spectrum has been auctioned and we can expect HSDPA/HSUPA with WiMax.
I think the problem is due to vastness. Sure USA is developed. But average speed is around 1.9Mbps but Japan has 63Mbps!!! Why? It’s because in small countries it easy to implement ;)
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070529-survey-average-broadband-speed-in-us-is-1-9mbps.html
i on exdesi and my up is 180 and download is only 7gb. wtf
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