LinkedIn added 12 million Indian subscribers in the last 18 months as people got hungry for jobs

• India is the second biggest market for LinkedIn, which Microsoft bought over in 2016 for $26.2 billion.
• The number of users has gone up by 25% in the last 18 months at a time when unemployment in the country rose.
• LinkedIn is also looking to beef up its team in India as it starts rolling out more products that are born in Bengaluru but get adopted in other countries.

LinkedIn now has 62 million users in India⁠— nearly 10% of its total member base globally come from the subcontinent as the world’s largest professional networking platform completes 10 years in the country.

It took the company, now owned by Microsoft, 3 years to go from 30 million in 2015 to 50 million in June 2018 but in the last 18 months, the number of users has gone up about 25%.

Thrilled but composed, Ashutosh Gupta, who was elevated as the country head for LinkedIn India, explained to Business Insider what led to this rise in people getting on board. “We tend to send, the first few updates on your feed will be very job focussed. So that you get what you want and you are more engaged. Another dimension is, the brand campaign that we did called #InItTogether. It also brought about the diversity of the jobs that we have on the platform,” Gupta said.


Even the demography of the members on the platform, as put out by napoleoncat.com, reflects the spike in job seekers in India. Nearly 90% of the members are under the age of 34, compared to Facebook where the age group of 18 to 34 makes up for about 70% of the user base.

There are half a million jobs listed on the platform and as the company statement put it, 2 professionals are joining the platform every second. The company is also targeting small business owners, telling them that the network can help them find new opportunities.


It also helped that the company realised that the mobile connectivity in India is patchy at best. Therefore, the launch of LinkedIn Lite, which loads faster even when data speeds are slower, was also a big factor for the rise in user engagement, which has gone up by 27% in the last one year.

LinkedIn is increasing research and development in India

LinkedIn Lite was the company’s first product made outside of its Mountainview headquarters. It was developed by the team in India that is familiar with the problems of a developing economy where the telecom infrastructure is still evolving. Now, it is in use in over 60 countries.

But with 62 million users, India is now the second largest market for the networking platform that was bought over by Microsoft for $26.2 billion in 2016. India is also the fastest-growing market for LinkedIn. Therefore, it has become more important for the American corporation than ever before.

LinkedIn Events, which was born out of India, is the other product born out of the India unit. The feature allows members to organise an event where other members can be invited for a face-to-face interaction. A bit like Meetup.

“The R&D team in Bengaluru has global mandates too,” Gupta said. As LinkedIn grows its India business and develops new products, there will be more jobs AT LinkedIn too But Ashutosh stopped short of putting a number to it. So keep an eye out!

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