LinkedIn Hits 50 Mn Members in India, to focus on Students, Career Starters, and Professionals

LinkedIn, the professional networking site has announced that it has crossed 50 Mn members in India. The company has doubled its member base in the last four years. According to reports, India is the fastest growing and the largest market for LinkedIn. The company started its India operations in November 2009 with 3.4 Mn members.

The company’s growth is largely driven by tier II, tier III cities instead of metros. With 19% growth with respect to last year, LinkedIn gives credit to the contribution of smaller cities focused product such as LinkedIn Lite website and Lite Android App. Within two years of launching (Lite Website in 2016 and Lite mobile app in 2017), the company has abled to cater the local market with investments in these two products.

The light version of LinkedIn has been developed by Indian engineers to focus on semi-urban and patchy internet network.

Akshay Kothari, country manager, India, and head, international product, LinkedIn, said, “India’s current sentiment has elevated from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’, giving way to a renewed faith in the country’s high growth potential. Our members-first, a localised approach has helped us cross the 50 Mn mark in India.”

In India, LinkedIn has focused on a localised approach to democratize opportunity and connect professionals to make them more productive and successful.

Kothari emphasized that going forward the company will continue to focus on students, career starters, and professionals, beyond knowledge workers. He said that the company is more focused on increasing blue-collared jobs availability. Besides, it is looking for regional language support on the platform.

LinkedIn has also partnered with IL&FS Skills Development Corp. to give students of some skilling streams a two-hour course on building and using a LinkedIn profile.