Jaspreet Bindra, Country Manager, MSN India

One of the key things about the Internet today, after the upgrade from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, is that there are niche websites. User generated content has become very popular and very big. However, I don't think either will take over the other. Both will co-exist. User generated content in India is very recent, but worldwide they began 4-5 years ago. Still MSN, Google and Yahoo! are growing like crazy.

India operations are becoming more important than ever for MSN and the digital major has announced a slew of initiatives for India recently. From new features to local languages, MSN is working hard to woo the Indian audience. Jaspreet Bindra, MSN India's Country Manager, is no stranger to the medium, given his experience with the likes of Baazee.com and Tata Internet prior to joining MSN.

In this interview with exchange4media's Jagadeesh Krishnamurthy, Bindra shares his thoughts on the Indian digital space and where MSN fits in it.

Q. Don't you think MSN's tie-up with Yahoo! for Messenger service is like giving yourself to them, particularly using Yahoo! Messenger as the platform?

Two things... one, MSN Messenger is the largest one in the world. It made more sense for Yahoo! to tie up with us. I think we have about 50 million more users than them. To give you an example, suppose I have an Airtel connection and you have a Hutch connection, if you could call or SMS only Hutch numbers, then that would be a problem, right? Similarly, we are just opening up the market.

We intend to be the leader in the online space. We will continue bringing in our global products as well as introduce several local innovations. These are the two key things that you will see.

We call them 'User-initiatives'. A lot of rich media content that we have put up on the site is user-initiated.

My experience can be divided into four phases. The first phase was with Baazee (now eBay) in 2000, when everyone was very excited about the Internet. This was the first flush of youth with the Internet - at least people understood what the medium was. Then I diverted from the medium and went back to the Tata Group, heading the marketing for Tata Internet, Tata Nova Internet pack, which was Internet from an access view point. That was the second phase of my Internet experience. Third phase was when I was in the telecom sector, this time with Tata Indicom. Very few people know that it is a very powerful Internet device. And now here…

The Internet has evolved hugely in the last 5-6 years and I still feel that India is still in its early stage and that the field is wide open. Right now, there are no winners or losers, but the space is set to grow for tougher competitions.

There are three large Internet companies worldwide - MSN, Yahoo! and Google. In some markets, like Europe and Australia, we are strong, and Yahoo! has its strengths too. In India, Yahoo! Began their operations much earlier, not in terms of years, but they had a larger team, including a country manager. Microsoft is huge in India too, including in the Internet domain. In terms of number of people we may be smaller, but, as I said earlier, it is just the beginning. It's like being in the mobile world in 1995 and saying JTM is a very big player.

It was a great experience working there. No experience is better or worse, especially in jobs. It is very different. Firstly, that was a different era and this is a different era. Secondly, it was a little company, in which I was literally the third or fourth employee, but Microsoft is a huge company and so it's like comparing apples and oranges. But both have been great experiences and I have been enjoying out here.

Almost every week we launch a new Windows Live product. Yes, at the time of Windows Live Spaces - the largest blogging site in the world - going live there were temporary issues, which were resolved.

It may be even less than 2 per cent. The earlier, the better. It is quite funny. Worldwide the Internet has started displacing traditional media. In the UK, for example, it has become larger than local newspapers. In India, however, we still have a very long way to go, essentially because of couple of reasons - one is connectivity. Prices of PCs are not a problem these days, but we need to have the same kind of broadband or Internet connectivity boom that we had in mobile sector, and which I believe is on the verge of happening. The second reason is that people really have not fully exploited the Internet or the mobile field. I don't know when it will reach 10 per cent and I refuse to be a crystal ball gazer. But, it will be faster than all of us think.

Sure! We haven't got concrete plans, but it is certainly something that we would explore.

Not really. The investments and user time spent on the web is growing and while there are alternatives, when you are looking for entertainment or information in a way, the Internet provides you a certain range of options and privacy and control that no other medium does.

One of the key things about the Internet today, after the upgrade from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, is that there are niche websites. User generated content has become very popular and very big. However, I don't think either will take over the other. Both will co-exist. User generated content in India is very recent, but worldwide they began 4-5 years ago. Still MSN, Google and Yahoo! are growing like crazy.