India’s Internet Economy that stands at 1.6 per cent of GDP is slated to touch USD 100 billion by 2015 revealed a report by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Titled  ‘Good to Grow: The Environment of Asia’s Internet Business’ highlighted that digital and mobile advertising will drive India’s internet economy.

Currently, advertising revenue in India stands at seven per cent. Of the total USD 410m being spent online, 60 per cent goes to Google and Facebook, with only the remaining 40 per cent going to other online players. Online advertising in Asia will grow from 24 per cent of worldwide online advertising in 2010 to 26 per cent by 2015.

However, Asia's mobile advertising market is expected to account for one-third of the mobile advertising market globally by 2015.

Meanwhile, India stands at an abysmally low penetration of 2 per cent compared to South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore in online payment and credit card penetration.

Coming down heavily on internet censorship, the report stated, “Asia is still finding its way with respect to governance and regulation of the Internet. India, Thailand and Malaysia stand out as places where censorship is on the rise.”

Speaking at the launch of the report, Laurel West of Economist Intelligence Unit said, “India’s regulatory environment has considerable room for improvement. While the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is responsible for the frequent issue of laws relating to Internet governance, there is no specific regulatory body for content and platform creators. Some, particularly smaller operators, take this as a good thing, since it means fewer barriers to entry, particularly compared with manufacturing and other over-regulated industries. But the downside is that there is no central avenue for communication with businesses that will be affected by changes in the law.”