India portal Rediff.com branches out

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international site is actually featured more prominently than on the Indian site.

"Matchmaking is an important part of our business," Balakrishnan said.

"Over 5 million matrimonial profiles to choose from!" an ad featuring a photogenic Indian woman promises on the front page of the site. Another ad in the movie reviews and news section offers relationship analysis reports.

India's famous "Bollywood" film industry is also featured on the Web site, with Bollywood music ring tones available for download and movie reviews and interviews. Reflecting one actor's quest for serious roles, "I'd rather cut my throat than sing" is the headline to a Rediff.com interview with Khalid Mohamed, a leading man in a new movie titled "Silsilay."

Yahoo, founded around the same time, is the second biggest portal in India, followed by Microsoft's MSN, Balakrishnan said. Google, meanwhile, has no substantial domestic presence but is expected to push into the market eventually, he said.

The trend to outsource technology jobs to India is creating a more tech-savvy populace and has propelled many laborers into jobs with higher education requirements and greater skills, Balakrishnan said. "Innovation is what will drive things, so the low-end worker will (continue to) be contracted out."

Outsourcing, though, represents just the beginning for India's tech market and will be followed by more service and product companies, he added.

CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos contributed to this report.

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Indian portal

Interesting to see an Indian portal featured. Though synonymous with offshoring, Indian techies have also been enterprising. Rediff.com is possibly the largest poster-child for successful Indian dot.com that continues to grow.

Needless to say, the NRI (Non Resident Indian) market also continues to grow, attracting the big guys. In that space, niche players like GaramChai.com (http://www.garamchai.com) continue to be in the black too.

- MB