Linkedin unveils three strategic initiatives to democratize access to Economic Opportunity in India

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, announced three strategic initiatives aimed at delivering value to broader segments of students, professionals and companies by democratizing access to economic opportunity in India. These first-of-its-kind initiatives for LinkedIn, all designed and made in India are: LinkedIn Placements, LinkedIn Lite and LinkedIn Starter Pack.

LinkedIn currently has more than 37 million members in India, the second-largest and one of the fast-growing markets for the company globally. Besides professionals and students, LinkedIn’s member base includes government and business leaders such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon and Rekha Menon of Accenture.

“India is a vital market for LinkedIn, as we work towards realizing our vision of creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. It’s already one of the world’s most important economies, and continues to experience strong GDP growth. While LinkedIn has grown multiple folds in India since we started operating here 6 years ago, there’s so much more we want to do here. We are committed to India and to boosting our ability to deliver value to even more members and be a part of their professional growth journey, by investing and innovating locally,” said Akshay Kothari, Country Manager and Head of Product, LinkedIn India.

 Mr Kothari added, “We are at the cusp of a new growth phase in India, where we are becoming even more relevant to the members and companies we serve. These new initiatives helps us keep pace with the rising demand for knowledge and access to opportunity.”

 Details of the three strategic initiatives are as follows:

LinkedIn Lite: The majority of members access LinkedIn via mobile devices. LinkedIn Lite empowers professionals and knowledge workers to stay connected anytime, anywhere, even in areas where connectivity signals are not ideal. LinkedIn Lite is LinkedIn’s first, stripped-down mobile-website that is also data-efficient. The India team built this from scratch, with a focus on speed and efficiency of access. LinkedIn Lite loads four times faster, regardless of the mobile device and the network it is connected to, providing a fast, seamless experience to all its features and unlocking a lot of value for people in urban as well as rural areas. This product has started ramping and will be available to all Indian members in the next few weeks.

LinkedIn Placements: Following the pilot launch in November 2015, LinkedIn is now opening up the Placements product to students at all colleges and universities in India. LinkedIn Placements now provides a level playing field for every student, regardless of their location or college, so that they can have a shot at their dream job opportunity. Students can log into the site to take an online assessment test, which gives them direct access to thousands of openings in 35 top corporates in India. LinkedIn is excited to partner with Aspiring Minds, CoCubes, HackerRank and Wheebox for the assessment tests. This product is now live and can be accessed at linkedin.com/placements or placements.com.

“Students are the leaders of tomorrow and they hold India’s future in their hands. Some of the best talent in India live in our villages, but they have historically not had access to good opportunities. LinkedIn Placements is a game-changer for them, providing them with a unique platform to get country’s best jobs” Mr Kothari said.

LinkedIn Starter Pack: The third initiative is aimed at all the ‘fireflies’ lighting up the Indian economy - startups and small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Exclusively designed for small, fast-growing companies, LinkedIn India takes its premium hiring, marketing and learning solutions and puts them into a single, easy-to-use package at a very special rate. This is "LinkedIn in a box" for SMBs and startups. This package is now live at linkedin.com/starterpack and open for applications. This package will be provided to 100 promising SMBs and startups, on a first-come, first-serve basis, in the initial pilot launch phase.