Info Edge to launch networking site

Info Edge (India) Ltd., an internet company which owns brands like Naukri.com, Jeevansathi.com and 99acres.com, will be officially launching its professional networking site, Brijj.com, in a couple of months.

At present, the site is available in BETA version since its soft-launch in the first week of August and is yet to be developed further.

According to Hitesh Oberoi, Chief Operating Officer of Info Edge (India) Ltd, there are already 1,500 to 1,800 members registered with the website.

"Brijj.com is a professional networking site where professionals can actually get to connect with people across industries and interact purely for official purpose. A professional networking sites complement job sites by tapping passive candidates," said Oberoi.

He added that to differentiate the website from Linked In, another professional networking site, Brijj will be integrated with Naukri.com and will also be "Indianised".

"Our job site Naukri.com is already popular with over 10 million registered members and an integration with it will boost Brijj. Moreover, we are waiting to add more features like allowing upload of contacts from Outlook Express or Gmail to Brijj. Once more features are added, we will launch it fully in a couple of months. Also, the need is to differentiate it from Linked In," said Oberoi.

The company, which owns websites in segments like job portals, search portals, matrimonial portals and real estate portals, is also looking to enter new segments.

Oberoi said that the company has not yet zeroed in on any particular segment, but evaluating options from among auto portals, educational portals and yellow pages, to name a few.

When asked about the success of Brijj.com, Oberoi said that the site would be successful because of its niche segment as well as the support of a huge database of Naukri.com's members. However, Oberoi feels that the site will have the highest adoption among the IT professionals.

Info Edge is also getting into promotional events for its websites Naukri.com and Brijj.com. The company will be conducting a two-day job fair from August 17, 2007 in Ahmedabad, with similar fairs to follow in other cities as well.