Linkedin India Launches Office In Mumbai – We Spoke To Them On Their Plans For India

Linkedin announced its first office in APAC region in Mumbai yesterday on its blog. It also announced a partnership with the Network18 group. On this we spoke to Hari V Krishnan who is the newly appointed Country Manager of Linkedin and also Arvind Rajan who is VP of International Operations at Linkedin on Linkedin’s India plans, Mobile plans, Monetization plans and more.

Here is an exclusive interview with both of them.

What is Linkedin’s Plan For India? Also Why India?

We are looking to connect all professionals in India. We are following a 3 pronged approach at attracting professionals in India. This is:

1) Awareness
2) Engagement
3) Monetization

India is the fastest growing market for Linkedin interms of user additions. Currently Linkedin has 3.4 million members userbase. We are adding 1000′s of users a day as of now. Indians have also created over 30000 user groups which also points at the fact they they are collaborating on the platform.

As part of the awareness exercise we have taken the first step by tying up with Network18 group. This tie up is a Web-Tv partnership wherein a poll regarding the recent Copenhagen Carbon emission issue is being discussed on linkedin and the same is being promoted via CNBC Tv18 channel. Once the poll is complete the same would be discussed on the channel as well as a one hour show.

How long is the Network18 partnership? Across which verticals? Are you looking for more such partnerships?

We have an understanding with the Network18 group to further explore more such associations as we go along. With regards to more such partnerships we would look at leveraging our open api and work with partners here in India.

For example the blackberry application which is to launch soon is something we feel will help penetrate the mobile market for linkedin in India. There is also the introduction of Social connect in Outlook 2010 through which linkedin would reach a lot more people in India.

What are the monetization possibilities from India? What is the current revenue from India?

While we cant disclose exact numbers its fair to say that the India revenues are already sizable. We shall be further driving the subscription and software licensing revenues (recruitment). While the ad sales would continue to stay with our ad representation partners in Networkplay for now.

What will the team look like in India?

Besides for Hari Krishnan who is the Country manager, Nayan Patel would be joining the India team as Director Operations. We have opened our first office in APAC region in Mumbai and Patel who currently serves as Director Strategic Partnerships For Linkedin in California will join Hari in India.

We expect the team to grow like the UK team which added about 13-15 people in year one.

Who do you view as your biggest competitors?

While we have some folks trying to build a professional network and to name a few there is Brijj.com and Peerpower.com there is nothing that is quite our size or even close to it.

While we do take all competition seriously we don’t see these players having any substantial numbers to threaten us.

What is your take on mobile in India?

We see India driving a lot of our Global Mobile strategy. Mobile will be a critical piece in India. The blackberry app which rolls out soon will be our first brush with a mainstream phone application here in India. We will look to further that in the future with more initiatives.

What do people generally use Linkedin for?

While we can’t state the order most people use linkedin for the following:

1) Sales & Business Development
2) Recruitment
3) finding experts
4) SMB’s use it for finding partners
5) PE Investors use it for finding investments

What are the future plans for linkedin?

We are looking at newer subscription services be it geographic or vertical in nature.

What about the app platform where is that headed? Also about twitter integration with linkedin?

We see the app platform as an opportunity in the future to engage developers and our open api is also intended to take linkedin beyond the platform. You should see more action soon on the app platform and with regards to more integrations of social media on linkedin.

Our Take On Linkedin’s India Move

Via our social media practice WATConsult we’ve been working with a lot of B2B clients and have seen a keen interest from them in utilizing linkedin as an effective tool for their brand. It does seem that the burgeoning SMB market and the large corporate houses in India offer good opportunity of growth for Linkedin in India. The challenge for them would be on how to reach out to this large mass of SMB space. I think a partnership with a player like Indiamart who services this target audience might be one of its options. All in all I see good growth for Linkedin in India and while reaching out to key business stakeholder might be an issue as a platform linkedin has sustained its credibility by not having an overkill of apps or ads too soon.