- India has 14 recognized native languages.
- Byju’s adoption grew 4 times after the launch of Hindi content.
- Policybazar has 60 percent of users who are bilingual.
A lot of Indian startups are today are, ‘Going Local’ today. Adding regional languages into their platforms and applications which is helping them expand their customer base.
Unicorns such as Policybazar, InMobi, Byju’s, Zomato, etc. now support from two to twelve regional languages.
BYUJ’s Strategy
Byju’s has garnered around 35 million downloads overall and has 2.2 million paid subscribers. Content in local languages is an important strategy for the ed-tech giant because 75% of the users on their platform are places other metropolitan or tier-1 cities.
“It becomes easy for kids in tier-2 and tier-3 cities to connect in their native language. Byju’s adoption has gone four times since we launched in Hindi”, quotes Divya Gokulnath, co-founder, Byju’s.
Byju’s introduced its Hindi program in 1,700 towns. They are planning to expand its content in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, and Gujarati by year end. They have signed superstars such as Mahesh Babu and Mohanlal.’
Policybazaar
Similarly, Policybazaar which sells 5 million policies worth Rs. 3,000 crore in a year, regional languages are an important factor of growth. They support 10 languages- Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, and Odia.
According to Policybazaar, 85% of its 11,000 employees are call center staff who are bilingual. 60 percent of the 10 million active users on the platform are from tier-2 and tier-3 cities
Policybazaar is also working on WhatsApp support in regional languages.
Google India has reported the emergence of the non-English internet user base in its latest report of search trends. 90 percent of new internet users in India are likely to be related to a specific regional language. Hindi content grew three times in 2018. Regional language users are expected to form nearly 75 percent of Indian internet user base.
Share-Chat’s growth gives a picture of the massive drive towards the vernacular languages. It is a local language social network that has 35 million active users, who interact in 14 languages.
With an ever-growing user base of smartphones and internet which accounts for 350 million and 400 million users respectively. InMobi believes investing in vernacular language will pay rich dividends which have incorporated Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Brands going local worldwide
Most of the startups are planning to expand it to other countries with investing in hiring local people to translate and attract local people. Zomato recently faced problems with translation in a few countries. We are soon going to see brands going local in foreign countries too.
With 14 major local languages, India is one of the most diverse countries. Brands need to keep investing in the right content which is easy for the end user.
The Internet user base is expanding every day and to connect with the broader audience because of this Brands are going local.
