iWorld
Second time mobile buyers prefer upgraded handsets: Study
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MUMBAI: According to the IDC India Mobile Handsets Study 2005, current mobile users are willing to spend Rs 7500 on an average, while buying the next handset. The value added handset features are present in a fewer number of current handsets, but for a high proportion of handset users, some of these features are must have while buying the next handset. |
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The features most likely to drive up gradation of mobile handsets are integrated digital camera, FM radio and speaker phones, as per the study. “The average amount spend on the current handset is Rs 4500; thereby an additional Rs 3000 is likely to be spent while upgrading, a good news for the mobile manufacturers,” says User Research Group senior analyst Nikhil Pant.  |
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Mobile vendors are taking care to market the upgraded handsets among niche segments. Though service cost and relevance factor play a crucial role in the buying decision, marketers are increasingly targeting the specific user segments and the results are positive. “Most of the handset vendors are following the right communication mix by using these aspired features to sway the target audience,” observes head of User Research and Communication Research in IDC India Parijat Chakraborty, . “The value added services like MMS, WAP, GPRS, Tri-band etc., have also observed growing demand, but it is yet to develop any mass appeal. According to Parijat Chakraborty, “The wide-spread hype around these services is coming down among the mass, primarily due to high service cost and low relevance. However, among specific segments, these services are exhibiting high to very high demands. The handset marketers need to focus on segmented communication approach for these niche segments.”
The study also reveals some interesting facts on the handsets usage front. Average handset is used for one hour in a day for voice communication (incoming and outgoing calls). The average number of incoming calls received in a day is 12 while the average numbers of outgoing calls made are 8. It indicates the continuation of the dominance of landline-to-mobile calls vis-?-vis the other-way, as observed in previous studies as well. “The unsolicited calls from call centers for selling services and goods are also responsible for higher number of incoming calls,” Parijat comments. On the second most commonly used service, SMS, some changes were observed as compared to previous years. Average SMS users send 4 SMS in day on an average, while the number of SMS received is higher, at 6 in a day. The number of incoming SMS is high due to number of messages from Mobile service providers giving information about various downloads like ring tones and various contests. Other reason is the SMS received from Banks, Railways, and Airlines etc. IDC Mobile Handsets Study 2005 was conducted by taking a sample of 2,245 mobile users (both GSM and CDMA) spread across A/B and C Category circles. The study covered all the four metros and 10 other major cities from A/B and C circles. Socio-Economic Class A, B and C were covered in this study. Gurgaon-based IDC India provides technology intelligence, industry analysis and market data to builders, providers and users of IT. It is regarded as one of the industry’s most comprehensive resources on worldwide IT markets, trends, products, vendors, and geographies. IDC delivers insights and advice on the future of e-business, the Internet and technology to help its clients make sound business decisions. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading Technology, Media, Research, and Event Management company. |
eNews
India uses ChatGPT for technical tasks nearly 4 times the world average: OpenAI
From classrooms to code, India’s AI use is increasingly skill-driven and youth-led.
MUMBAI: If code is the new currency, India is already minting it by the million prompts. In the world’s largest democracy, artificial intelligence is no longer a distant abstraction or a boardroom buzzword. It is a daily companion, drafting emails in Hyderabad, debugging code in Bengaluru, polishing essays in Delhi, and fielding life advice in towns far beyond the metros. Fresh data from OpenAI’s “Signals” initiative offers a rare, granular glimpse into how India is using ChatGPT, and the numbers suggest the country is not just adopting AI; it is actively shaping its use.
India is one of the largest markets globally for ChatGPT’s weekly active users and ranks among the top five countries for API usage. With OpenAI’s global consumer base exceeding 800 million users, most of them on free tiers, the dataset captures adoption patterns that go far beyond enterprise subscriptions.
Indian users, notably, are punching above their weight when it comes to advanced capabilities. Among ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers, usage of the data analysis tool is roughly four times above the global median. Use of Codex, OpenAI’s coding platform, is about three times above the median. Indians are nearly three times more likely than the global median to ask coding-related questions and almost twice as likely to seek help on education and learning.
This matters because it signals something economists call a shrinking “capability overhang”, which is the gap between what AI tools can do and how fully users exploit them. In India, that gap appears to be narrowing rapidly.
The geography of this coding intensity tracks the country’s technology hubs. Telangana, which is home to Hyderabad, ranks first in usage of OpenAI’s coding capabilities. Karnataka, home to Bengaluru, follows in second place, while Tamil Nadu comes third. In other words, the prompt traffic mirrors the tech corridors.
Nearly two-thirds of consumer ChatGPT messages in India are now non-work related, while slightly over one-third are tied to work. That marks a significant shift. In earlier phases of adoption, work was the dominant use case. It was only in early 2025 that non-work messages overtook professional use, and the divergence widened throughout the year.
Even so, India remains slightly above the global average in work-related usage. Around 35 per cent of consumer messages in India relate to work, compared with roughly 30 per cent globally.
At work, the emphasis is squarely task-oriented. Around 45 per cent of work-related conversations fall into “doing” behaviours such as drafting documents, transforming text, and completing tasks, compared with a much smaller share in non-work contexts. Technical help and writing dominate. In offices across the country, ChatGPT functions as a digital co-pilot that debugs code, polishes presentations, and unblocks stalled workflows.
Outside work, the tone shifts. Over 35 per cent of non-work messages revolve around practical guidance, which includes everyday advice and how-to queries. Roughly 20 per cent relate to seeking information. Nearly one-fifth involve writing tasks such as drafting or editing. Self-expression and learning loom large. In personal life, Indians appear to use AI less as an executor and more as an explainer, sounding board, and study partner.
India’s demographic dividend is clearly reflected in its AI habits.
Users aged 18 to 24 now account for just under half of all ChatGPT messages sent in the country. They surpassed the 25 to 34 age group in mid-2024 and have held the lead ever since. Globally, the 18 to 24 cohort accounts for about one-third of messages; in India, the share is markedly higher.
Combined, users aged 18 to 34 generate roughly 80 per cent of total consumer ChatGPT messages in India. Given that around 40 per cent of India’s population is under 25, the youth skew is unsurprising, but its implications are profound. Education-related queries, early-career problem-solving, and skills development are likely to dominate near-term AI impacts.
Usage patterns also differ by age. The 18 to 24 cohort accounts for a near majority of messages seeking practical guidance, technical help, and self-expression. Meanwhile, the 24 to 34 group sends a slightly higher share of multimedia and technical help queries relative to its overall share of usage.
If AI norms are being written in real time, it is young Indians who are holding the pen.
OpenAI does not collect gender data, but inferred patterns based on typically masculine and feminine first names reveal a measurable gap in India. A little under 60 per cent of users have typically masculine names, and just over 40 per cent have typically feminine names. This skew is more pronounced than the global average.
Worldwide, users with typically feminine names now account for slightly more than half of all messages. This shift occurred only in the summer of 2025, when feminine-name usage overtook masculine-name usage globally. In India, the gap persists, although it has been narrowing over the past year.
There are also topical differences. Users with typically feminine names are more likely to send messages related to self-expression, practical guidance, and writing. Those with typically masculine names lean more towards seeking information and technical help.
The data does not capture motivations, but it does highlight where inclusion efforts and digital literacy initiatives could focus if AI is to broaden opportunity rather than deepen divides.
The consumer story aligns with India’s broader AI momentum. The country ranks second globally in AI skills penetration and has one of the fastest-growing AI talent pools. It accounts for 9.2 per cent of global AI publications in computer science as of 2023, which represents a substantial contribution to research output.
At the same time, investment in AI data centres and digital public infrastructure is expanding, promising to knit together datasets and resources at scale. Enterprise adoption is also robust, which suggests that consumer experimentation is unfolding alongside institutional integration.
OpenAI’s “Signals” project is built with aggregated, privacy-preserving data and released with a time lag. It aims to provide a durable measurement layer for the AI era. The idea is not to track individuals, but to surface patterns such as where adoption is accelerating, who is using the tools, and what they are actually doing.
In a country as vast and varied as India, such evidence is more than academic. It shapes decisions about workforce training, small business support, education policy, and safeguards.
For now, the numbers paint a picture of a nation that is not merely consuming AI, but conversing with it in an energetic, experimental, and increasingly skilful manner. In India, the future of work and learning is not being downloaded. It is being drafted, debugged, and rewritten in real time.
