Google India to get 20 million Indian SMEs online by 2017

In order to increase online presence of SMEs Google India announced the launch of a nationwide initiative to help small medium businesses to go digital. The initiative will allow SMEs to get online presence on Google search and Google maps, without having to invest in a website or domain. Google India will get 20 Million SMEs online by 2017 by using a simple mobile based app called, ‘Google My Business’, that will help businesses to create and manage their business information across Google products for free in both Hindi and English.

With over 300 million plus Internet users and over 6 million new Internet users coming online every month, Indian users are increasingly looking for information about businesses online. There is a massive information gap for local businesses on the Internet today, out of the total 51 million SMEs in India, less than 5 to 6 percent have an online presence. With this new product, Google aims to bridge this gap through a massive feet on street initiative to help SMEs all across in India to get online.

Speaking about the initiative, Rajan Anandan, VP & Managing Director, Google South East Asia & India, said, “In the next three years India will have over 500 million Internet users - and these users will need access to all kind of information in their local languages. Indian SMEs have struggled to build and maintain their online presence.  Search experience for local business in India is broken today and we want to fix it by connecting businesses with their customers.”