Facebook in process of monetising in India

With over 100 million users and 900,000 small and medium businesses on board in India, the world's largest social networking site Facebook is in the process of monetising its business in India, chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said on Tuesday.

India has the second-largest user base for Facebook, after the US.

"We have invested heavily in India. India is one of the big bets for us. We are in the process of monetising here," she told reporters. Sandberg did not disclose details.

"India is our second-largest market and it has a lot of potential. US is our largest market, but in terms of people on our network, there is a huge opportunity for us," she said.

Globally, Facebook has more than 1.2 billion users.

She added that about 900,000 SMBs have pages on Facebook on which they can advertise and reach out to potential customers. These pages appear in news feeds of users, which the company claims are "personalised".

"Some percentage of these SMBs are paying for the page product. This explains lot of growth here. Business here contributes globally," she said.

Sandberg added that the company wants to "enable commerce" -- help small and medium businesses to find customers and expand their business, in turn helping Facebook grow.

Addressing a gathering of businesswomen, journalists and policy-makers, stressing on the need to do away with gendered norms at the workplace that posed as uneasy disadvantages for women."Gender inequality is everywhere, not just in India. India is marginally better with 28% companies employing women in their key posts. In America, 23% companies have women at top positions," she said.