Update: a serious over estimation from us of how much this will cost Google. Their site states that Google is only paying for the cost of the .in domain name. Earlier: A couple of years ago, a senior (now former) Rediff executive explained to me how they initially got advertisers on board: Rediff not only had to give banner space to advertisers, but it also had to create websites for the advertisers because they just didn't have an online presence. Instead of just waiting for businesses to come online, Rediff and other publishers, as well as IndiaMart (which still creates websites for businesses) had to help the advertisers come online. That role, probably to a greater extent, was probably taken up by the agencies and the kind of people who, even to this day, advertise on the back of auto rickshaws that they charge Rs 1000 per HTML page for creating a website. They play a very important role of bringing businesses and potential advertisers online, though efforts are needed to also take some of these SMBs beyond To coincide with Google's Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora's (typically) quarterly visit to the country (for the Bharti Airtel board meeting) Google today announced a 'India Get Your Business Online' initiative, offering free websites, domain & hosting services to small medium businesses in India. Google is targeting 500,000 small medium businesses in India to get online in next three years through this program, in partnership with HostGator, which will offer free support…
