The Hindu Business Line : Yahoo! sharpens focus on India

LOCALISATION is going to be the mantra for Yahoo! India this year. The Web site, according to Mr Neville Taraporewalla, Director and Country General Manager, would introduce a lot of local content in the sphere of online entertainment and its other communication properties. The company would also be looking at strengthening its presence in the smaller markets. "Our objective is to connect with our consumers better," he said.

Mr Taraporewalla said that the Web site will shortlyre-launch its career site as Yahoo! India Jobs, for which it has tied up with a number of career sites such as Naukri, Timesjob.com and Jobstreet, thereby giving its users access to more information.

Also on the cards is the launch of language mails. Local language mail services, which are not new in India, have not been very successful and a number of Web sites have withdrawn this service. "The challenge would be to make the concept a success and we are going to do so by presenting it in much more user-friendly fashion," said Mr Taraporewalla.

The Web site is also planning to localise its search engine, by launching its knowledge search service (which it has recently launched in the international markets) in India. "We are going to make it more relevant for the Indian users. For instance, if some one wishes to get a detailed understanding of Indian handicrafts or even wants to get information on dermatologists in Chennai, they could get it from our knowledge search."

Also in the pipeline is the localisation of its film site, which in the coming months would offer exhaustive information on Bollywood.

On the advertising front, the Web site is planning a series of focussed communication, such as sending mailers and so on.