Webdunia rides vernacular boom

According to Pankaj Jain, president and CEO of the company, "We are planning to tap the Indian language for new portals. We will alsolaunch several new features and applications every month. We will launch one application every month," said Jain.

"Our online e-greetings business is also picking up especially with the NRIs sending regional language e-cards to families back home,"Jain pointed out.

With nine Indian language portals, Webdunia is expecting to be able to address over four-fifth of India's billion plus population.

Given literacy levels of over 60 per cent, this allows Webdunia toshare the latest from the world of news, sports, entertainment and astrology to over 500 million Indians.

The multi-lingual internet media market is estimated to be worth atleast Rs 500 crore.

"The biggest challenge is availability of internet with only 5 percent of the Indian population accessing the internet. But internet penetration is growing, so hopefully the country will mature," Jain said.

Webdunia's email service is available in 11 languages