Google launches India Labs, local search and local business centre

20 August 2007

Hyderabad: Google India today announced the launch of an India serving platform, Google India Labs, and two new India-specific products, Google Local Search and Google Local Business Centre to provide locally relevant information and opportunities for Indian users.

According to the internet search leader, Google Local Search has been designed as a useful tool for Indian users looking for locally relevant information on local businesses like restaurants, shops, and hotels

Google Local Business Centre has been designed to allow businesses to add their information to Google Local free of cost to be displayed when users search on Google Local Search. Google has already launched Local Business Centre already in other countries.

"Local Search and Local Business Centre will provide our users with better local business results by increasing the corpus and depth of business listings, and benefit local businesses by ensuring visibility on the Internet for free," said Vinay Goel, head of products, Google India.

Google Labs is a technology playground for products that are in the process of development and require market feedback. This launch makes India one of the few countries to have a country-focused labs program. Globally, Google has seven labs across US, China, Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain.

India labs will serve as a platform to showcase innovations that are particularly relevant to the Indian market and will also allow users to glance into Google's future offerings. These products will come from Google offices across the globe, including the India R&D centre in Bangalore, but will specifically cater to the needs of Indian users.