I’d like to share this interesting personal experience that indicates the growing penetration of the internet in India. Uzanto (my startup) uses ICICIBank for corporate banking and every month, along with the account statement, the bank sends a bunch of promotional mailers. Usually the mailers pertain to free debit/credit cards, discounted foreign holidays blah, blah, blah… Needlessly to say, they all land promptly in the dustbin.

Last week I was pleasantly surprised to find the following mailer from the bank. In its attempt to incentivise corporate clients to use its corporate internet banking facility, ICICI bank is offering Google ads worth 1K. This is what the mailer reads “Get premium advertising space on Google worth Rs 1000 free; all you need to do is to make 2 online financial transactions on your roaming current account. Thousands of prospective customers could reach you through Google”. The mailer campaign is obviously targeted at the bank’s SME customers, many of whom must be in the software/internet space.

Its a novel idea and could work well for the bank. This must also be music to Google’s ears, for its Adwords program is being used as a standard of exchange (almost like currency). Buts thats not why I am writing about this on Webyantra. I mention this as a proof of the growing influence of the internet (in India) in not just the way we run our businesses, but also various aspects of our daily life. The internet will help propogate products/services that make things simpler, faster, cheaper, more widespread etc. This mailer is just a pointer to the shape of things to come in future.