Monster Worldwide Inc, the parent of job site Monster.com, has bought Indian Web site JobsAhead.com as a part of a global acquisition drive to boost revenue, a company official said on Tuesday.
The deal, worth about 400 million rupees ($9.6 million), is Monsterís fourth acquisition in less than three months and is the first buyout in India, Asiaís third largest economy and home to booming software and telecoms industries.
Acquisition is one of the major strategies to grow the companyís topline, Stuart McKelvey, Monsterís group president for the Asia-Pacific, told Reuters.
The online opportunity for hiring in India is growing at 80-90 per cent each year.
Monster.com began its Indian operations three years ago and now has some 1,400 companies, mainly in the flourishing information technology sector, that use its database to recruit for junior and middle-level positions.
Arun Tadanki, president of Monster Asia, told reporters the combined entity would have a share of 62 per cent of the 8.8 million people who visit a job site each month in India.
The economy is very strong and the recruitment market is booming. The jobs market is one of the best in recent years.
Online recruitment in India is growing rapidly as companies unable to afford high advertising rates in the print media search for suitable candidates on the Internet.
Tadanki estimates Indiaís online recruitment sector will clock revenue of between 750-800 million rupees during 2004, which is about 12 per cent of the total industry.
In two years time it could shoot up to 25 per cent, he said.
Monster Worldwide buys Indiaís JobsAhead.com for $9.6 mn
Indian Web site JobsAhead.com acquired as a part of a global acquisition drive to boost revenue