India’s active Internet user base in 2007 is still a pathetic 32 million, according to a new survey report put out by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

This represents a growth of 10.9 million active users over 2006.

The IAMAI is also throwing out a figure of 46 million Internet users in the ever used or claimed used category, representing a 42% growth over the previous year.

IAMAI President Subho Ray expressed disappointment over the Internet usage in the country:

[A]lthough a growth of 40 per cent year on year makes us happy, especially since for the last couple of years the rate of growth was between 30-35 per cent, relative to what can be achieved and what needs to be achieved, the growth rate is not very satisfactory….Broadband which would drive more applications, functions and businesses and therefore more users, now really needs to take off in India in order to make the growth sustainable.

The cities covered by the survey included Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Patna, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Surat, Nagpur, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Durg, Vishakhapatnam, Trichy, Bellary, Panipat, Trissur and Jalgaon covering 65,000 households.