Bangalore: While on one hand there is serious growing competition from players such as Zoho Corp, Google India has cut down the prices of its online business applications for small and medium businesses (SMBs), creating a price war among the company itself along with Salesforce and other players.

The company’s ‘Google Apps for Business’ which consists of solutions like Google Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides, has seen a 45 percent price reduction.

This move took place after Google killed its free version of the software suite for organizations with up to 10 employees.

According to Judy Chang, Product Manager at Google Apps for Business, “New and existing customers in India will now pay 150 per user per month if they are on the flexible plan and 1500 per user per year on the annual plan.”

Chang also added saying, “India is home to around 47 million small businesses, yet only one percent of these businesses are online. We hope that by making Google Apps more affordable, more small businesses in India will be able to access a business-ready package of communication and collaboration tools.”

On the other side, Zoho Corp is looking at persuading SMBs through free plans and better marketing strategies. The company recently restructured its pricing plan for Zoho Mail, making it free for up to 5 users.

As reported by The Hindu, Zoho spokesperson Aravind Natarajan said, “We believe we have a very competitive pricing model. While we have no immediate plans to change our prices…a reduction of 45 percent in prices by Google is significant. We have also ramped up our marketing efforts.”

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