India's Rediff starts U.S. Internet site
MSNBC Wire Services, Bombay, May 11, 1999

Indian Internet publisher and services provider Rediff On the Net on Tuesday launched its U.S. edition and its chairman predicted the company will begin making profits within four years.

"While our focus is on India, we have always had an eye on the world," Rediff's Chairman and founder Ajit Balakrishnan told a news conference in Bombay. "We are very committed to an international presence. The U.S. is the first addition to doing that."

He said Rediff was benchmarking itself against international competitors such as Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Lycos (NASDAQ:LCOS).

"U.S. portals have succeeded in cutting across users the world over by introducing localised versions of their services. Rediff.com aims to do the same out of India," Balakrishnan said.

The U.S. edition of Rediff On the Net, or Rediff.com, consists of a site developed for Indians living in the U.S. and Canada. It will comprise of stories and features which will focus on news within the local Indian communities.

Rediff's three-year-old website (http://www.rediff.com) is an Internet portal in India which receives more than 80 million accesses a month, the company said.

The company said Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), venture capital firm Draper International and investment firm Warburg Pincus were key investors holding minority stakes.

In response to a question on profitability, Balakrishnan said it would take time before the company started to generate profits.

"It would be about four years from now," he said, adding that profits could come sooner if Rediff continued with its current pace of growth.

Balakrishnan said Rediff.com's user base was expanding at the rate of 25 percent every month.

Asked if the company was looking at an initial public offering (IPO) in the near term, Balakrishnan said: "I think it depends on when you hit the required run-rate."

He said there were still "many months to go" before Rediff came out with its IPO. "A fledgling company needs the privacy of venture capital-funded growth."