The Hindu Business Line : Info Edge launches real estate portal

Mr Sanjeev Bikhchandani (right), founder CEO, Info Edge (India) Pvt Ltd, Mr Hitesh Oberoi, COO & Director, and Ms Delpali Singh, Business Head, at a press conference in the Capital on Wednesday. — Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Sept 14

INFO Edge Ltd, creators of Naukri.com and Jeevansathi.com, today launched a real estate portal — 99acres.com for information exchange on buying, selling and renting of residential as well as commercial property.

"The portal will cater to all segments of real estate business — buyers, real estate professionals, brokers and developers. The service includes mechanisms to list properties and search them. Value-added services for brokers and builders include designing and maintaining micro-sites for projects with photographs, floor plan and site map. We already have 7,000 listings of properties for sale and rent, and aim one lakh listings across 30 cities in six months," Mr Sanjeev Bikhchandani, CEO of Info Edge India, said at a news conference here.

The Web site would be free for the first one-and-half months before turning into a paid site for sellers, while remaining free for buyers.

The company would leverage its existing user base in Naukri.com and Jeevansathi.com to direct interested users to the new portal. While job portal Naukri.com has a 4.5 million user base, matrimonial site Jeevansaathi.com has 0.5 million subscribers.

Info Edge also targets real-estate print advertising, which is expected to grow from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,000 crore by 2010. "In addition, there are over 20,000 brokers and property dealers in primary and secondary markets, who are our potential users," he added.

Meanwhile, Naukri.com plans to reach potential jobseekers through SMS, browsing on WAP. "This will allow users to apply for jobs through their mobiles and hand-helds," he said.

Info Edge reported gross profit of Rs 13 crore on revenues of Rs 45 crore during the last fiscal and targets Rs 100 crore revenue in 2005-06.

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