Google India on Wednesday launched a programme that will allow small and medium business (SMBs) in the country to go online with a free Web site, domain name and Web-hosting facilities. The service will be free for one year. Over the next three years, Google plans to take five lakh SMBs online through this initiative called ‘India Get Your Business Online'.
Mr Rajan Anandan, Managing Director and Vice-President, Sales and Operations, Google India, said, of the four crore SMBs in India, only about four lakh are present on the Web. Only one lakh have a “decent quality Web site”.
“Businesses often believe that getting online is too complex, costly and time-consuming. This prevents many SMBs from taking the first step towards building an online presence,” he said.
Owners of these businesses registered in India can now log on to www.indiagetonline.in, get a free domain name, create their own Web site (from templates that are available), avail phone, e-mail and chat support and also use free tools and training. These business can go online in 15 minutes, the company claims. Google has already rolled out this initiative in 18 countries, including the US, the UK and Italy.
Businesses can renew it after a year, although they will then have to pay for the services. Google did not give a specific estimate of how much companies will have to shell out after the first year of free service.
“It really depends on which services they avail of after the first year…. It could range from a few dollars to a hundred dollars,” Mr Anandan said.
The programme is being rolled out by Google along with its partners ICICI Bank, Web-hosting company HostGator and Federation of Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
Google said it does not have a near-term revenue expectation from the initiative. “We want the internet ecosystem to grow…. We want to improve the utility of Web for the users, and that will happen once Indian SMBs go online,” he said. But market watchers note that once the companies become net-savvy, they would also want to tap tools like Adwords for higher visibility, in turn, driving up the business for Google.