Mumbai:  Professional network LinkedIn has marked a new milestone with the launch of Hindi, the first Indian regional language on the platform, with the goal to support 600 million Hindi language speakers globally. 

With this launch, LinkedIn aims to break down language barriers, providing greater access to professional and networking opportunities to Hindi speakers in India and around the world. With the launch of Hindi, the networking platform now supports 25 languages globally, said the statement.

Starting 2 December, as part of the first phase roll-out of LinkedIn in Hindi, members will be able to access their feed, profile, jobs, messaging, and create content in the language on desktop, and on their Android and iOS phones, the company announced.

 As the next step, LinkedIn will work towards widening the range of job opportunities available for Hindi-speaking professionals across industries, including more banking, and government jobs. The platform will also continue to add more Hindi publishers and creators in the coming weeks to boost member engagement and conversations in the language.

India is a core market for growth at LinkedIn and the second-largest market in terms of members after the US, accounting for 82 million members as part of a global community of 800 million members. India’s member base has grown by 20+ million in the past three years (15 per cent year-over-year growth) and it has witnessed a spike in engagement and conversations on the platform since the pandemic.

“In India, LinkedIn has been mission-critical to helping people connect, learn, grow, and get hired during the pandemic and in this new world of work we are in. With the launch of Hindi, now more members and customers can unlock greater value from the platform through content, jobs, and networking, and express themselves in a language that they feel comfortable in,” said LinkedIn India Country Manager Ashutosh Gupta.

“We have witnessed high engagement and member growth in the last year, and it is at this exciting inflection point that we are strengthening our vision to create economic opportunity for ‘every’ member of the workforce, and taking down language barriers for Hindi speakers across the world,” he added.

LinkedIn in Hindi is now available to all members globally on desktop and Android, and will gradually roll out to all iOS users in the coming days, the company stated.

With the launch of Hindi, members also have the advantage of creating their LinkedIn profile in Hindi and making it easier for Hindi-speaking members and recruiters to find them for relevant opportunities. To display their existing profile in Hindi, members will need to create a secondary language profile in the same language as their existing profile. This will prompt them to choose a preferred language for their existing profile from a drop-down list of 25 languages, which now includes Hindi.

The launch of LinkedIn in Hindi saw LinkedIn Influencers such as international life coach Gaur Gopal Das, monk-turned-entrepreneur Dr Vivek Bindra, and nearbuy.com founder Ankur Warikoo share their first Hindi posts on their LinkedIn profiles.