The Internet juggernaut rolls on

Here is a selection of a half dozen "Internet news" items over the last three days, each of which is about the increasing usage and adoption of the Net. It's "happening" ( both in India and elsewhere) :

In India :

1. IPOs to go "online only"

SEBI (the Securities & Exchange Board of India) is considering a move to make applications for IPOs exclusively online. This seems prompted by the recent deluge in applications to IPOs like Reliance Energy, with many more such IPOs to follow.

This is now feasible since demat accounts are online and all major banks also have a provision for online banking. An online IPO application will cut the allotment period to 5 days from the current 21 days,says SEBI.

This will result in savings in funds tied up for those extra days. Importantly, it will also save applicants the bother of cumbersome paperwork. The move is likely to benefit banks too since many people now will open online banking accounts. This will save costs for banks. A win win situation for all.

And this will certainly give a fillip to Internet growth in India. So far only secondary stock trading is posssible online - and that too is optional. In contrast, IPOs applications will be online only.

2. Lawyers to go online

The Hindustan Times reports (couldn't locate the online version) that the Bar Council of India has managed to successfully persuade the Supreme Court that lawyers should have their own website. So far, as part of their professional ethics code, lawyers were barred from all sorts of advertising & soliciting. However, lawyers pressed hard for this and the Supreme Court seems inclined to let this go through.

Should be interesting - I've had trouble getting to find a lawyer when I needed one - for my odd personal matters.

Also, with an estimated 1 million lawyers in India, this spells big, big business for domain name & website hosting companies around the corner. Also, there's a good possibility to create Web 2.0 type of sites for lawyers, read my other posts or contact me if you want to know more :-)

3. CRY (Child Rights & You), possibly India's best known NGO, has opened an "office" on Second Life (under the Bollywood section I'm told, not sure why Bollywood though :-)

4. Online job hunting is #1

Kelly Services, the manpower company, has published the results of a survey among 3000 Indians which shows that online job hunting accounts for 40% of all jobs placed, ahead of other methods. The survey has other interesting nuggets for would-be job hunters and recruiters.

And, worldwide :

5. Ecommerce on a roll

Nielsen Online has come out with a survey which shows that as many as 875 million people around the world have ever shopped online. In Korea, 99% of all online users have ever shopped online.

6. Online music going the legit , ad-supported way ?

Ad-funded legit P2P music services are in. The latest one to launch is QTRAX, New York. They will have 25 million music titles available, a number 5 times as large as the iTunes store. Being legit, the company claims, they will be avoid viruses (unlike semi-legit sites like Limewire). And listening to all these 25 million titles will be free ! The company spent three years doing deals with the music labels.

So, if you are an online buff, happy stock hunting, lawyer selecting, giving to charity, shopping, job hunting and music listening.