HYDERABAD: The world's most-used web search engine Google plans to help half a million Small and Medium Businesses in India to go online by the end of next year.

With India set to become second largest internet market in the world overtaking the U.S. by 2015, Google sees India as a key market and is focusing on SMBs, which contribute significantly to its global revenues.

Allan Thygesen, vice president and global head of SMBs for Google, told the media here that the firm has already launched an initiative to give SMBs a cost-effective way to reach out to customers.

"It's a key growth initiative in India, which is the fastest growing market for us among top 20 markets," he said.

Google has already made significant investment in India in terms of increasing the headcount and developing new products to drive the growth in SMBs sector. It is also offering services in English and nine regional languages in India.

Google has 1,200 partners across India to help SMBs manage their businesses online. In the last two years, it enabled 300,000 SMBs to go online. Its premier partners cover 65 cities and this number is expected to go up to 100 this year.
Read Also:
Candy Crush Saga Maker Opts for IPO
World's 10 Most Innovative Big Data Companies