US-based web hosting firm GoDaddy today said it will make its services available in three Indian languages — Hindi, Marathi and Tamil — to enable over 31 million small businesses (SMBs) to build their online presence.
The NYSE-listed firm currently offers internet domain registration and web hosting services in the country in English.
“India has 22 official languages and over 1,500 dialects. So, local languages certainly play a significant role,” GoDaddy India and Australia Vice President and Managing Director Rajiv Sodhi said.
The next wave of growth in internet usage is expected to come from tier II and III towns and with that millions of small businesses will also come online and leverage technology to drive business growth, he added.
“Our strategy is led by a vision to develop and rollout localised language offerings which mirror Indias Internet growth. We will be able to reach out to about 61 per cent of SMBs in India by offering support in these three languages,” he said.
India is the worlds second-largest internet market and is also home to the second-largest SMB base globally, with over 51 million businesses.
According to data from Target Group Index (TGI), 73 per cent of those SMBs are located in tier II and III cities.
Sodhi said this focus on offering products and services in regional languages also gains significance as a bulk of the new users are coming from regional locations that are also hotbeds of SMB and entrepreneurial activity in the country.
“We are starting with Hindi, Marathi and Tamil. GoDaddy SMB products, its website, marketing and customer support will be available in these three languages to help empower the 88 per cent of Indias population which is not conversant in English,” he said.
Globally, GoDaddy offers services in over 25 languages apart from English. It has a presence in 53 countries with 14 million paying customers.