Twitter launches self-service ad platform in India

Micro-blogging site Twitter has launched a self-service advertising platform for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in India, the social networking service announced on Thursday.

Twitter has expanded the platform reach of Twitter ads globally from 33 countries to over 200 countries and territories.

"Now, SMBs from India to Iceland can more effectively reach their target audiences on Twitter in 15 languages. In addition, Twitter also announced the total active advertisers, including SMBs to be approximately 100,000," the company said in a statement.

"Small and medium-sized businesses face the most challenges and are least resourced to promote the good work they do.

"With the expansion of the Twitter self-service ads platform, we are excited to give SMBs level the playing field with digital advertising to increase their sales," Emily Huo, SMB lead for Asia Pacific at Twitter said in the statement.

There are 51 million SMBs in India, according to market research firm Zinnov.

Start-ups registered in India are projected to go up to a whopping 11,500 by 2020, independent consultancy KPMG reports.

"Anyone with a small business, from tech start-ups to retail, and even mom and pop shops, can now use our platform to target and engage in real-time with more than 316 million active Twitter users worldwide and increase sales," the statement added.