• Business Standard, Monday, August 4, 2014 12:05 PM

Anup Gupta, an information technology executive who uses radio cabs for airport transfers, was quick to spot a deal. TaxiforSure.com was offering a discount of Rs 50 on all bookings done through its mobile application. Gupta was quick to download the app on his phone, and now uses it every time he wants to book a cab. Businesses in India, especially e-commerce firms, are waking up to the potential that mobiles offer in this country and are pushing their mobile applications to smartphone users. Several e-commerce firms - Myntra, OLX, Quikr and Ola Cabs, to name a few - have launched their own mobile apps. Flipkart wants to use their $1-billion fundraise to acquire companies in mobile applications. Amazon, which plans to pump $2 bn in India, has said mobiles would be a key area for focus. This is understandable. More and more people are accessing the internet on their mobiles. India's internet subscriber base is 100-150 million, depending on whose estimates you take, and is growing at 20-30 per cent a year. There are nearly 50-80 mn smartphone users (second largest in the globe after China, which has 300 mn smartphones) and this base is growing at 60-70 per cent yearly.

Read the whole story at Business Standard »