Line claims 10 million users in India, hopes to double base by year-end

Japanese messaging application provider Line Saturday said it aims to double its userbase in India to 20 million by this year-end and has roped in Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif to endorse the brand.

Line, which started its operations in India in July this year, claims to have 10 million registered users already.

Besides free messaging, it also offers free voice calls, video and audio file sharing and stickers.

"The focus this year is on increasing the number of users.

We are confident of crossing the 20 million-mark before this year-end," Line Corporation CEO Akira Morikawa said.

Line is also working on introducing newer services like e-commerce and music through its platform, he added but declined to divulge further information.

Launched in 2011, Line has 230 million users globally, with 20 per cent of its userbase in Japan. It is present in 55 countries with its other big markets being Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia and Spain.

Its revenues grew to 9.77 billion yen (USD 100.2 million) in second quarter of 2013 from 0.3 billion yen in April-June 2012 quarter.

"We have already invested about one billion yen (Rs. 62.98 crore) in India on various campaigns and setting up base Mumbai.

We are in discussions for partnerships with telecom operators and handset makers for our service.

"We haven't experienced such rapid growth in any other country to date like we have in India and we will continue to focus here," he told PTI.

Line has tied-up with Sony India and will come pre-installed on the Sony Xperia Z1 and Xperia C smartphones, while Sony Music Entertainment will open official accounts on Line.

According to a report by Canalys, India is the third-largest smartphone market after China and the US and is an attractive market for messaging applications.

Last year, China's Tencent also launched its application 'WeChat' in India. Besides WeChat, other popular applications include the likes of Whatsapp, Viber, Nimbuzz and BBM. Line has also roped in Katrina Kaif as its brand ambassador and will launch a new TV commercial featuring her this week.