Facebook launches SME India council

Currently, Facebook boasts two million 'small business pages' in India.

Social media giant Facebook, has launched the SME India Council to help small businesses grow locally and regionally across the country.

The first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, the Council comprises 12 small business owners from different geographies, with varied business objectives and goals. As part of its agenda, the Council will discuss progress on solutions, business ideas, discuss new successes and challenges and meet the Facebook teams.

Council members include Amruta Walvekar, director, Wrapistry, Anaka Narayanan, director, Brass Tacks, Anitha Nayak, founder, Floured, Gautam Ivatury, co-founder and executive chairman, MeraDoctor, Hema Balakrishnan, founder, Color D Earth, Kalpana Rajesh, director, Pelli Poola Jada, Maya Chandrasekaran, chief of talent, Babajob.com, Nivedha Charles, founder, Pigtails and Ponys, Nivedita Mummadi, co-founder, Dirty Feet, R Balakrishnan, co-founder and director, GIO Adventures, Sarvesh Agrawal, founder and CEO, Internshala, and Vivek Iyer, co-founder, English Dost.

Currently, Facebook boasts two million small business pages in India, as of October 2015. Globally, the social networking platform claims to have more than 45 million small businesses actively using their pages.

According to an official statement from the company, more than half the 138 million people on Facebook in India (90 per cent on mobile), are connected to at least one small business in the country. Over 1.99 billion interactions are generated between businesses and people in the country.

"Mobility is the future of India. We are excited about the tremendous opportunities it creates for people and businesses and are invested for the long-term," shares Kirthiga Reddy, managing director, Facebook India. "The SME India Council is an open forum for local businesses to share feedback with our teams so we can align and continue to develop impactful solutions to grow their business."

Some of the key SME businesses that are using Facebook extensively include job website Babajob, online fashion brand Bewakoof, multi-product e-tailer Cilory, and online fashion brand Chumbak among others.

Facebook had set up an India Client Council with global advertisers in 2014.