Google also announce
plans to get 20 million SMEs online by 2017
Celebrating small and medium businesses who have excelled
in innovative use of Internet to expand their business, Google India announced
the winners of Google SME Heroes Challenge in Delhi at a grand finale, presided
over Mr. Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Department
of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) – Ministry of Commerce &
Industry. In the finale, Life Cell was among the national finalists of 25 SMEs
and was unanimously chosen as the regional winner amongst top 5 SMEs in
Chennaiby an external Jury comprising of Mr.KunalBahl, Co-Founder & CEO,
Snapdeal, Mr. Bikky Khosla, CEO, TradeIndia.com and Mr. Deep
Kapuria, Chairman, CII Trade Fairs Council.
Mr. V. Ravi
Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer of Life Cellreceived the award and
was immensely appreciated for using the online platform tonot only increase
awareness about the services but also educate users about the benefits of
investing in Life Cell. In addition to the award ceremony, Google India also
announced the launch of a nationwide initiative to help small medium businesses
to go digital and get online presence on Google search and Google maps, without
having to invest in a website or domain. As part of this new initiative, 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.
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| V. Ravi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, LifeCell. |
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.
Congratulating the winners, RajanAnandan, 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 of local businesses in their
local languages. We’re excited to award small and medium businesses, who
are excelling in using Internet as a medium to grow their business and meeting
the needs of Indians as they go online for their business needs. ”
“SMEs have been central to Google’s success
globally and have been strategic focus for us in India. Google My
Business is our first mobile based product initiative for SMEs and we have seen
immediate adoption of it in India, in the last 5 months during our pilot phase,
over a million SMEs have found a place on the Internet, and we are engaging
25000 new SMEs every week. Our moon shot - aim is to get 20 million SMEs online
in the next three years.” he added.
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From (L to R) Rajan Anandan, VP & Managing Director, Google South East Asia & India, Bikky Khosla, CEO, TradeIndia.com and Deep Kapuria, Chairman, CII Trade Fairs Council, V. Ravi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, LifeCell
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Congratulating the winners, Mr.
Deep Kapuria, Chairman, CII Trade Fairs Council said, “In the last
five years, Internet has had a direct impact on how both consumers and
businesses engage with each other. SMEs are the backbone of our economy, it is
estimated, that the share of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise (MSME)
contribution to Indian GDP will significantly increase from the current 38% to 50% by 2024. India’s huge and diverse base of SMEs can
benefit immensely from the Internet and we must work hard to ensure SMEs in
India better understand the power of the internet to win in this digital age. I
would like to congratulate the regional winner of Google’s SME heroes
challenge and hope that more businesses will take inspiration from them.”
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