India is estimated to have about 51 million small and medium businesses, out of which only 32% are online. Local business listing service Justdial (NSE: JUSTDIAL) has long benefited from the unorganized nature of the Indian business world.

Justdial’s Journey

Justdial was founded in Mumbai as a local search service provider in 1996 by CEO VSS Mani. Today, it is the leading local search engine with offices across India in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, and Pune.

Justdial’s search service bridges the gap between the users and businesses by helping users find relevant providers of products and services quickly, while helping businesses listed in Justdial’s database to market their offerings. Its search service was initially available to users over telephone and text messages but it started offering web-based services in 2007. Justdial Apps, which are available on Android, iOS, Windows, and Blackberry platforms, offer location-based services for mobile Internet users. Today, web and mobile users account for about 85% of its users.

Justdial has a database of approximately 18.8 million listings and its users have contributed to 73,568,709 reviews and ratings for various listings.

Justdial faces increasing competition from Google, IndiaMART, and Sulekha in business listings, Zomato in the restaurant sector, Practo in the medical care sector, UrbanClap, UrbanPro, and Housejoy in the services sector. Niche offerings like Practo are gaining ground with their ability to transact. Google has recently announced its Areo app targeting restaurant delivery and services.

Google has now upped its focus on SMBs. About 10 million businesses are available on the Google radar through its maps or search results. To cater to the rest of the market, it has partnered with Indian School of Business and FICCI to launch Digital Unlocked, a training program to teach essential digital skills to business owners.