Indian web professionals’ market to reach $750 mn: Zinnov-EIG

The digital opportunity for web professionals from India is estimated to be at $750 million in the next three years, according to a report from research firm Zinnov Consulting and web hosting firm Endurance International Group (EIG). 

The report, The Web Pro Ecosystem: The Catalysts to Unlocking India’s Digital Dividend, took inputs from over 100,000 web professionals in India. Web professionals refer to web designers, developers, digital agencies and IT service providers, the firms said in a joint statement Thursday.

India being a primary do-it-for-me (DFIM) market now plays a key role in the digital deployments of small and microbusinesses (SMBs), the report stated. It also mapped the services that web professionals offered across four stages of SMB maturity.

The maturity curve includes companies that help in creating an online presence through core services such as website builders, domain name hosting, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and email hosting.  On the other end of the spectrum are the reselling third-party apps providing collaboration tools and custom-built web and mobile app providers that help in the growth of SMBs. 

The market opportunity for web and mobile applications, transaction-ready websites and digital marketing will grow as Indian SMBs take a steep move up the digital maturity curve.  The digital influence is expected to increase in the 75 million-strong Indian SMB market.

India today has only five million registered domain names with 55% of them (2.7 million) attached to a website.

“There are 1.2 million unique websites in India, out of which less than 100,000 are transaction-ready websites and dominantly accept cash,” said Pari Natarajan, CEO, Zinnov.

Natarajan also pointed out that 12% of websites in India were SSL enabled with close to 50,000 websites being chatbot enabled.

“The increasing trend in internet penetration, online commerce, and cybersecurity will grow the adoption of services for online presence, digital discovery and productivity applications by SMBs in India,” Natarajan said.

Apart from an online presence, other areas that web professionals could focus on was digital marketing and web and mobile application development.  Zinnov also estimated that the opportunity for web professionals in mobile and web applications were the most significant.

India currently ranks second in mobile app downloads globally with 12 billion app downloads, the report stated.