I am an Indian (Asian) living in USA. When I think back about my country, I know you can see bicycles every where in India and it is also a very popular electioneering symbol. But I never saw a single bike on road in India with a changing gear system or any one wearing a helmet. I feel basically this has to do with demographics of population and also for the reason that cycling was never thought of as a sporting activity but just a commuting device. I never saw of a cycle race being conducted at local or regional levels except for international games/sports. Probably this has to do with the cost of road machines.
I hope this should change in near future as the Indian middle class population surge stronger economically.