Orkut has been in India for a long time and it does not have even a near competitor. The Indian crowd is not interested in Myspace and they don't like the look of Hi5 (Generally Speaking, a small survey). Mainly the reason being the simplicity in it and the easy way to search for friends. I think the trick is the way it is presented.
Orkut came up with a new look which is better than the traditional Orkut look and also a 'updates from your friends' feature which helps us to see what changes the users have made.