Yahoo! unveils Indian operations

Yahoo! unveils Indian operations
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

MUMBAI, JUNE 29: Yahoo! Inc of the US, the leading global internet portal, today unveiled its Indian operations by launching the portal `www:Yahoo.co.in' specially targeted at Indian web users and those with special regional interest. The portal has tied up with about 40 local content partners for channels in news, finance, cricket, movies, greetings and weather.

``India launch is part of our global strategy to expand operations outside US, where much rapid growth in internet users was expected. This is the 23rd world property in our global network,'' Yahoo! founder chairman Jerry Yang told reporters here.

Yahoo! senior vice-president international Heather Kellen said ``India is a rapidly growing market, and to have a greater penetration in the market we have entered into partnership with 40 other portals for content across news, finance, entertainment and sports segments.''

The portal offers a websites' directory in 14 categories, news, content on finance, cricket, movies and weather, apart from a family of communication tools that could be accessed through any internet-connected computer, she added.

Yahoo! producer Ross Veitch said the communication tools include globally accessible E-mail facility, global chat and messenger services, besides custom-set alerts to notify users of specific stock prices, Sports scores or scheduled meetings.

``As of now, the whole content is in English. Soon we are going to tie up with vernacular portals to offer local language content,'' he added. Innovative technology base and strong assets built up in the form of local teams and partnerships were the strengths of Yahoo!, Yang said.

Yahoo! has properties in 12 different languages and has a presence in several Asian countries which include China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan with local language properties. Most of these (barring China) were launched over the last one year. Killen said the portal would be launching local language properties in India as well shortly.

``Yahoo! expects the Indian market to grow to about 10 million users by 2003 and witness a growth rate of something like 55520%," said Killen referring to IDC projections for the Indian market. ``We will be making aggressive investments in the market and our primary challenge will be to build a strong local brand," Yang said, adding that Yahoo! was looking at a balanced growth strategy over the next 5 to 10 years in India. Both Killen and Yang indicated that the portal would be embarking on an aggressive brand building campaign shortly but were unwilling to disclose the extent of investment in the exercise.

Yahoo! currently averages more than 145 million unique users per month worldwide and reported net revenues of $ 228,384,000 for the quarter ended March 2000.