Facebook's Zuckerberg arrives in India, to meet Modi on connecting villages

Excited to help the govt in its ambitious Digital India programme, says Zuckerberg

Seeing exponential growth potential for Facebook in India, its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg today said he will discuss with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ways to connect villages with the digital world.

The CEO of the California-headquartered firm, who is on his first visit to India, said he is excited to help the government in its ambitious Digital India programme.

"India is an amazing country with unlimited potential. It is a place of big ambitions and Facebook is deeply committed to the country. We see lot of growth for us here. Tomorrow I'm meeting the Prime Minister. He is committed to connecting villages online and we are excited to see how Facebook can help," Zuckerberg said here.

India has about 243 million Internet users and have 100 million plus Facebook users, but there are over a billion people in the country who do not have access to the net, he added.

He is the third high profile CEO of a US-based firm, after Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Micrsoft's Satya Nadella, to visit India in last few days.

Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is creating a USD 1 million fund to help developers develop apps for farmers, migrants and women. This will be a contest to drive new apps and services in local languages.

"Since 2007, Facebook has been working on new apps and services in local languages. About 65 per cent use Facebook in a language other than English, including 10 Indian languages," he added.

On barriers in Internet penetration, he said: "There are three major barriers to connectivity network, affordability and content.


Zuckerberg's first India visit