Zoom’s India expansion spree continues as video conferencing service starts selling plans in local Rupee

NEW DELHI, Oct 9, 2020, Financial Express. Zoom users in India can now buy their preferred plans and add-ons in local currency, the cloud-based video conferencing service provider announced on Friday, Financial Express reported.

“We are excited to bring the INR buying option to our potential user base in India,” Sameer Raje, who is India Head for Zoom said in a statement adding that “India remains a key focus market for Zoom and we will continue striving to grow as an Indian company.”

Zoom’s move to support local currency for payments is in line with the company’s ongoing efforts to ramp up its India operations. Previously, it had been relying majorly on telecom operators like Airtel to sell its product(s). “We also have certain AV integrators who are partner resellers taking our products to the market,” Sameer had revealed in an exclusive interview with Financial Express Online in April. This is the first time Zoom will sell directly to consumers in India.

All the plans are now live on its US website though it seems Zoom is not launching a dedicated India website just yet. There are broadly three of those, pro, business and enterprise. The pro subscription will be available for an annual fee of Rs 13,200, while the business and enterprise plans will cost Rs 17,700 for a year’s license. Potential buyers will be required to choose India as the billing and sold to country after choosing a plan. Payments will be made through credit card.

“For the initial phase, the users will be limited from seeing or buying Zoom Phone SKU in the purchase flow made via web browsers,” Zoom said.

Zoom also offers add-on services like video webinar and rooms. A Zoom webinar for 100 attendees will cost Rs 35,300 going all the way to Rs 5,733,700 for 1,000 attendees for a year’s worth subscription. Zoom will charge Rs 44,100 a year for its rooms service.

Zoom will continue to offer a free tier, as it does already, allowing video conferencing with up to 100 participants for up to 40 minutes, plus a host of other features including virtual backgrounds and screen sharing.