Google India slashes apps pricing by 45% for SMBs

Google India has announced new affordable pricing for Google Apps for business, with the aim of making it easier for small businesses in India to reap the benefits of working in the cloud.

New and existing customers based in India will now have to pay Rs 150 per user, per month, if they're on the flexible plan, and Rs 1,500 per user, per year, on the annual plan - a 45% reduction on the previous price.

Ricky Kapur, director, enterprise sales, Asia, said, "India is home to around 47 million small businesses, yet only 1% of these businesses are online. We hope that by making Google Apps more affordable, more small businesses in India will be able to move to the cloud and access a business-ready package of communication and collaboration tools."

Many businesses in India are already working in the cloud with Google Apps. As Karan Doshi, IT commercial head and project manager, Nilkamal explains "The move has resulted in productive work, rather than server maintenance. With Google Apps, we have a feature-rich solution that comes with the added benefits of improved reliability and reduced IT maintenance and costs".

Vishwajeet Singh, Chief Intelligence Officer, Epitome Travel Solutions is another customer and says, "The best part of switching to Google Apps is that when I'm travelling, I can easily communicate with my colleagues by going online. That is not only saving on the costs of having to call overseas but also provides great ease when you know that you're able to connect with people when you're out of the office."

Programs like India Get Your Business Online, Women Entrepreneurs on the Web or our Google Business Groups are just some of the other Google initiatives in India designed to help small businesses come online and use the web to grow.