India portal Rediff.com branches out
Published: 23 Jun 2005 11:40 BST
Journalism is being heavily influenced by the Internet in India, Balakrishnan said. Because many people access the Internet through mobile phones -- Rediff.com has 50 million mobile phone users -- stories are only around 160 words long, he said.
Rediff.com, launched in 1995, offers email in English, Hindi and a dozen other major regional languages, as well as news, blogs, shopping, radio, information on jobs, movies and sports, and its own matchmaking services. Eventually, email users will be able to search their messages for specific keywords.
Although most of the users reside in India, the Web site has established a growing pool of readers who have moved from India to North America or Europe. The matchmaking section on the international site is actually featured more prominently than on the Indian site.
"Matchmaking is an important part of our business," Balakrishnan said.
"Over 5 million matrimonial profiles to choose from!" an ad featuring a photogenic Indian woman promises on the front page of the site. Another ad in the movie reviews and news section offers relationship analysis reports.
India's famous 'Bollywood' film industry is also featured on the Web site, with Bollywood music ring tones available for download and movie reviews and interviews. Reflecting one actor's quest for serious roles, "I'd rather cut my throat than sing" is the headline to a Rediff.com interview with Khalid Mohamed, a leading man in a new movie entitled 'Silsilay'.
Yahoo, founded around the same time, is the second biggest portal in India, followed by Microsoft's MSN, Balakrishnan said. Google, meanwhile, has no substantial domestic presence but is expected to push into the market eventually, he said.
The trend to outsource technology jobs to India is creating a more tech-savvy populace and has propelled many laborers into jobs with higher education requirements and greater skills, Balakrishnan said. "Innovation is what will drive things, so the low-end worker will (continue to) be contracted out."
Outsourcing, though, represents just the beginning for India's tech market and will be followed by more service and product companies, he added.
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