Pimpri-Chinchwad Among Most Popular Cities On The Internet
In a recent discussion with the Times of India group, some interesting trends came to light. With 121 million Indians currently logged in on the internet, and this number is growing at the rate of 25% per annum. More and more Indians are logging in and relying on the Internet to meet their needs for information, help them access goods and services, scout for jobs and look for homes and investment opportunities.
The internet has revolutionized the way Indians perceive their world and consume news and information about it, and the rapid growth of smart phone use in the country has only boosted this trend. According to a recent report by HSBC Global Research, India – whose India’s smart phone penetration stood at just 30% last year, will by 2019 account for 12% of the global smart phone market with a whopping penetration rate of 65%.
Obviously, media houses like the Times Group have not lost any time in harnessing India’s promising online market. Times Internet, the Times Group’s flagship internet brand, is also India’s largest Indian online group. Naturally, it draws a massive amount of online traffic, and lays claim to over 6.5 billion page views per month. Indiatimes.com alone accounts for 5 million visitors every single month.
Considering that the internet has become the fastest and most trusted medium to reach consumers of real estate, developers will take such statistics very seriously. Over and above other information which is of great interest, real estate developers want to know the demographics of online visitors, and which areas job seekers – who are of course potential real estate buyers – are investigating online.
According to sources at Times Internet, 85% of the monthly visitors to their sites are graduates and 40% of these are post-graduates. 19% of these visitors have an annual income of over Rs. 7 lakh per year. But more interesting than this are the online traffic details for India’s leading cities, because these details reveal which cities potential home buyers are most interested in.
Also, according to the latest statistics available from the Times Group’s indiatimes.com, the Pimpri-Chinchwad draws a mind-boggling monthly traffic of 658273 visitors on. In fact, PCMC ranks among the top 10 cities in terms of search rankings on the Internet. On TOI.com, Pimpri-Chinchwad ranks 4th after Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, with 21.7 million views per month. In comparison, Pune ranks 9th with only 5.26 million viewers per month.
Online visitors are interested in the PCMC for various reasons, the first of course being job opportunities. This stands to reason, because in terms of job creation, PCMC is significantly ahead of Pune and most other cities in Maharashtra with the exception of Mumbai. The combined employment generated by the Hinjewadi IT Park and the MIDC manufacturing belt has made PCMC a focus area for fresh graduates seeking to build their careers.
PCMC is also among the most prominent search terms for online home hunters. Buyers are attracted by the prospects of living close to their workplaces, the superior infrastructure in PCMC, and the more attractive property prices when compared to most regions in the Pune Municipal Corporation.
The highest number of online searches for real estate within the region are for properties in Puneville, Moshi, Ravet and Chakan, as these areas offer fast access to PCMC’s primary employment centres and also offer superlative returns on investment. Another key terms which features prominently in online home searches are for integrated townships, for which PCMC has extremely famous.
Anil Pharande, Chairman – Pharande Spaces
The views expressed in this article are author´s own.
