News portal and Internet search firm, Yahoo, has acquired up to 30 per cent stake in Chennai-based Call Ezee, a tele-information service provider from its paent to Info Network Management Company (INMAC), for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition as made through Yahoo's Dutch subsidiary,

Yahoo did not disclose how much it paid for the stake in INMAC but said that it has a revenue-sharing agreement as well as one representation out of the five member board.

Call Ezee, operates a telephone directory search service across 14 cites in India, including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Consumers can call the local Call Ezee number from any mobile or fixed line phones and ask details of any business or firms that offer the product they want as well as offer round the clock helpline for medical emergencies.

Indian businesses can be listed on Call Ezee's directory free, but sales leads are charged on a premium listing or on a "pay for performance" basis.

INMAC, which handles around 10,000 calls per day from consumers and helps two million customers across verticals, intends to upgrade its technology and increase its manpower from the existing 450 plus to 2000 by the year end so as to handle the expanded business by tripling its reach across India.

''We aim to gain market share by reaching out to untapped markets and advertisers in India,'' said INMAC's founder and chief executive officer, T.S. Narayanaswamy to reporters.

"The Yahoo investment will enable us to scale operations and extend our reach across the country to 26 more cities by 2010'' he added.

"Our investment will help Info Network to establish as a national player in the directory search service. The Indian local search market is seeing rapid growth, driven by increasing use of mobile phones by consumers to search and find local businesses and services," Yahoo's emerging markets head, Keith Nilsson said in a statement.

The two companies will start with data integration of its lists and Yahoo also plans to look at other methods of integrating the business models of INMAC and Yahoo, Nilsson said.

Yahoo and INMAC main competitors are business listings provider, Getit, Justdial, Ask Laila-run by Bangalore based Four Interactive Ltd.

Its bigger rival, Google is planning to launch an interactive voice response-based automated phone directory service in New Delhi and Hyderabad.

Yahoo's earlier investments in India were Bharatmatrimony.com portal and Tyroo Media Ltd.