Justdial makes a global call

Justdial makes a global call

Justdial makes a global call

The owner of an all-India virtual local business directory service Justdial, plans to spread out to every major English-speaking country in two years.

Expanding his 500 crore plus search engine business Justdial into the world's capitalist heartland, the US is just the first step in VSS Mani's expansion plans. He explains that the market in the US is more evolved and mature and soon plans to hire up to 1,000 people in the US, mostly in under-employed, rural areas. Currently the US process is handled from its Mumbai call centre.

This Indian search engine plans to expand to Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong and leverage the Justdial brand and service for an international franchise.

In India, Just Dial receives 300,000 calls a day, around 350,000 visitors to justdial.com and about 35,000 users on the WAP and SMS front. It caters to over 57 million users across 240 cities in the country. Its revenue model involves a nominal fee to those who list but is free to consumers.

Unlike the US where the Justdial service is free, customers in India need to pay for the outgoing calls. Callers dial the helpline number and enquire about their query and then text and email alerts are then sent to them listing the four best options.

At United Database, which was Mani's first job, he saw people leafing through heavy books of local business directory and yellow pages India books to get to one small, yet important piece of information. It made him wonder if he could offer a service that gave information with just one call. This was the foundation for Justdial.

VSS. Mani dreamt of numbers and wanted a memorable number for his service Justdial. In 1996, he heard of a new telephone series in Kandivali Mumbai, the 888 series. He approached the General Manager of MTNL and presented his business plan, who was much impressed and allotted Mr. Mani the 8888888 number. This was the beginning of Just Dial.

Today, Just Dial's headquarters in Mumbai measures 20,000 square feet, and the company owns 1,25,000 square feet across India, however it started with just a 300 sq.ft office some borrowed furniture and rented computers. This is Justdial's growth rate and this success has attracted venture capital from Hong Kong's SAIF Partners, US-based Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital, the world's three most powerful investors.

In closing he shares his mantra for success, "Stay put, never give up and maintain fiscal discipline".

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