Facebook clinches top spot from Orkut in India

(AFP PHOTO LOIC VENANCE)

Facebook has become the number one social networking site in India, toppling Google-owned Orkut in one of the few markets the site had held a leadership position, a survey showed Thursday.

US-based global research firm comScore said Facebook had moved into the top spot in July, backing up separate research by Indian online monitor ViziSense which shows a similar trend.

Facebook had 20.9 million unique users in July, almost three times more than in the same month last year, while Orkut had 19.9 million, according to comScore.

"The social networking phenomenon continues to gain steam worldwide, and India represents one of the fastest growing markets at the moment," comScore executive Will Hodgman said in a statement.

ViziSense calculated that Facebook had overtaken Orkut in April as data showed it had slightly less than 19 million unique users in May while Orkut had about 18 million.

In March, Facebook announced it would open its first office in India in the southern IT hub of Hyderabad.

Seventy percent of Facebook's users are from outside the United States and the site is now available in more than 70 languages.