Why is it that contires such as india seems to be behind in the way of website design, the design is just too busy for me and the styles/colours remind me of early 2000 sites.
Yeah, when I saw the scrolling text I wanted to gouge my eyes out. It's straight out of 1999.
And for a country where mobile based access will presumably be quite common (as only 7% of the population has home internet), why isn't there a mobile site at launch?
About design and usability:
Most of the people accessing the web from India don't focus on design as much as they do on content and or the purpose. This is changing though as more and more consumers and developers are paying attention to UX and other such aspects.
About mobile based access:
I don't have the specific numbers at this point, but most of the mobile access is through 'dumbphones'. So not having a mobile site is not exactly an issue.
Almost everyone has a mobile in India. But not many use Internet on their mobile devices. Situation is changing slowly with the arrival of really low - end smartphones, though.
Most of the government IT projects won't have any designers (or professional designers) unless they are related to designs as such. The designs are mostly created by the programmers over there and most of the times it will be to the liking of the bureaucracy or who ever is in charge there. Appearance is last priority.
Have you looked at sites by computer scientists? Like some of the Microsoft Research related sites? They serve the purpose. Don't expect them to be pleasant on your eyes.
How about comparing apples to apples? Take a look at the equivalent US site[0]. It's pretty obvious the Indian equivalent blatantly ripped off the design - same sort of bar at the top, then a header with a logo, then a horizontal set of links to diferent places on the site, then a set of rotating images, then links with in-depth info in 3 columns.
Some of the UI differences include the addition of scrolling text and a crappier color scheme.
And for a country where mobile based access will presumably be quite common (as only 7% of the population has home internet), why isn't there a mobile site at launch?