MUMBAI: Downloading music ranks high on India's women net surfers who number 60 million and are largely young and affluent, a Google study has said.

The report titled 'Women & Web study' showed that besides email, search and social networking, downloading music topped the female onliner's activity. It was followed by educational content, job search, watching videos and consuming news items.

The study was compiled by looking at search query data for top women oriented search categories in India and an independent online research done by TNS Australia, which reached out to over 1000 women with access to Internet in India.

Women also accounted for 40 percent of total monthly user base of YouTube in India.

The study which was carried out among 1,000 women aged 18-65 years revealed that 3 in 4 women in SEC AB are now online and 75 percent are in 15-34 years age group. Over 24 million women access the Internet daily.

The study also threw light on how the internet influenced their consumption habits. Over 50 percent of women said the Internet research influenced their decisions. Internet influence was highest for Skin care (72 percent), Baby care (69 percent) and Hair care (65 percent) products.

"Our study was to find the digital impact on purchasing behaviour of women. The report showed that 70 percent consumed music, 52 percent TV shows (available on YouTube after 6 hours post telecast), 47 percent on Beauty, 44 percent on education and schooling, 42 percent on health & fitness and 41 percent on Home & Cooking. Women are great advocators of brands and already 5 million are transacting over the Net,” Google (India) VP & MD Rajan Anandan said.

The study serves as important indicator for advertisers on how to gauge consumer demands and trends, how to design and target their ads.

"We have 60 million women in a net user base of 150 million in India. We expect the figure of women Internet users to reach 120 million by 2015 (total internet users to touch 300 million surpassing US) and expect women users to spread to 'C' and 'D' category towns.  For Google India, our India centric approach will be in access related and addressing of the supply side. The problem is with the internet bandwith, working with e-commerce and brands and how to get the next 300 million internet users- through 'Indic' language and low cost devices," he added.