Dot-Coms Begin to Blossom in India
India, home to a legion of talented software engineers, has had a surprisingly undeveloped Internet economy: The nation has the lowest Internet penetration rate among major emerging markets and very little online commerce. Now, that’s beginning to change.
A host of Indian Internet companies are emerging to offer their take on services that proved big hits in the U.S. and elsewhere. There are firms vying to become India’s version of Amazon.com, Groupon or Expedia, all with the goal of capitalizing on Indians’ growing interest in buying things online.
The Indian start-ups, including online bookseller Flipkart.com, electronics retailer LetsBuy.com, and discount site SnapDeal.com, are growing quickly and are attracting financing from big-name Silicon Valley venture investors like Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners.
Wow what about the US based companies?
The U.S. based internet companies are trying to enter the China and India markets and have been unsuccessful because they are too generic. Facebook is the perfect example. They have been penetrating China for quite some time now and that guy will not take a hint. He’ll just keep at it until he strikes a deal with a heavy hitter in China like Baidu.
It seems to me that China and India are creating their own versions of Amazon.com, YouTube, Yelp, etc. instead of buying into the Western ones. Just as I predicted, there will be many boutique type start-ups that cater to a niche market! Check out my Daily article on YouTube = Youku? Websites and Their Chinese Equivalents as listed by FastCompany.
http://www.asiancemagazine.com/node/14239