India portal Rediff.com branches out

Rediff.com, based in Mumbai, is launching three new services aimed at expanding its local base of 35 million registered users and boosting its international audience.

The company, which is listed on the Nasdaq exchange, is expanding its offerings to include voice over instant messenger geared for low bandwidth connections, a social networking site, and a news site with computer and human-generated listings.

The instant messenger over VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) service, released this week, allows people to send text messages to mobile phones and offers calls of good quality with connections of 14.4 kilobits per second, Rediff.com CEO Ajit Balakrishnan said.

VoIP IM helps people "speak to people in other parts of the world for free. It's a utility tool, not just something that teenagers use," he said.

A key focus is that it will work on low-tech systems. Broadband in India means 128kbps, and it remains fairly sparse. Eighty percent of computer users in India are still using Windows 98, Balakrishnan said, and roughly 60 percent of PC Internet access takes place through Internet cafes.

Rediff.com, which is in English, eventually will offer chat "avatars" -- or personalised animations -- that can be used on gaming platforms, Balakrishnan said. It is currently developing compatible games with Chinese developers. "Gaming is showing traction in cybercafe markets," he said.

The company also has launched a beta of its new India Connexions social networking Web site, which already has 500,000 testers, Balakrishnan said. The site, which will be opened up for a wider release in three to four weeks, will be particularly useful for getting recommendations for small businesses -- hotels in Goa, guitar teachers in Mumbai, for example -- that don't have their own Web sites, he said.

"Commercial search is low in India" because of the dearth of business Web sites, he said.

The company is working with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay to speed up the India Connexions site. Right now, a search might take 30 to 40 seconds, Balakrishnan said.

"It needs to have that instant gratification," he said.

In addition, Rediff.com's new Newshound service will be available for beta testing in several weeks. It will include headlines from about 700 news sources with news updated every five minutes. A human editor will summarise the most important news alongside the headlines, which link back to the original stories.