Google Inc has announced aggressive plans for expanding its SME partner programme in south India where it is aiming at doubling its partner base.
In the process, the global search technologies major will add another 3,000 head count to its sales force through its partner network. The company is particularly focussing on expanding the base of its operations in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the two States which house the largest number of small and medium businesses and clusters of SMEs.
Google Inc Channel Sales managing director Todd Rowe said the company’s SME partner programme gained significant traction in 10 months of its launch where it had partnered with 16 medium size companies and trained over 3,000 sales personnel.
“We want to double our footprint by the end of 2014,” he said.
There were 25.9 lakh small enterprises in the State employing close to 40 lakh and these required local support, personalised touch and simple marketing products. The e-commerce base in the country was set to touch Rs. 4,000 crore by 2015 and the company saw phenomenal growth in the SMEs that were adopting internet to grow their businesses, making India the fastest-growing market globally.
The SMEs were looking at internet presence with over two lakh SMEs opting for web presence in the last one year and the number was set to grow significantly in the coming days.
Google Inc had partnered with Getit Infomedia and had adopted a go to market policy through the channel partners. Mr. Rowe, however, refused to divulge information pertaining to the investments planned by the global major in India as also the plans for increasing headcount in its operations here. The company had total coverage of 50 cities in the south with offices set up in 20 cities.
Asked about the slowdown in the economy, he said though the economy was facing challenging situation at present, it was matter of time before it recovered.
