Yahoo! acquires 30 pc stake in INMAC

BANGALORE, INDIA: Info Network Management Co. Pvt. Ltd, (INMAC), a provider of telephone based directory search services,  has announced  a strategic investment from Yahoo for the voice search market in India.

"We have acquired 30 percent stake in Info Network Management for its consumer brand Call Ezee to tap Indian market in voice based local search space," said Keith Nilsson, SVP and Head, Emerging Markets, Yahoo.

‘Call Ezee’ provides telephone directory search service covering 14 cites across India, which will provide voice based information via fixed or mobile phone.

Addressing a press conference, Nilsson said: "We are happy to be a strategic investor in INMAC to establish as a national player in the voice based local search space. As we see the Indian local search market is seeing

significant changes, as more and more consumers are using  mobile phones to search for and find local businesses."

IMAC expects the funding provided by Yahoo to enable it to continue to develop its team and technology, as it seeks to triple its reach across India over the next two years.

TS Narayanaswamy, founder and CEO, INMAC, said: "Our solutions will benefit the SMBs and the enterprise community in India to have an easier and cost effective way to improve their businesses and attract more customers."

"Small businesses focused on return on investment (ROI) find Call Ezee to be efficient in generating new scales leads, while consumers appreciate the ability to receive instant information on businesses in

their local area, free of cost," added Narayanaswamy.

INMAC aims to recruit 2,000 people over the next two years and expand its database to five folds to ten millions in 40-50 cities by 2009.