New Delhi : Europe’s biggest online marketplace for businesses – PeoplePerHour.com – today announced its launch in India. The site enables businesses to connect with a vibrant community of independent, reliable service providers (freelancers) based in over 150 countries worldwide, and available to work at the click of a button. India comes third on the list following UK and the US.

PeoplePerHour.com gives SMEs access to virtual, on-demand, global workforce that enables companies to scale up or down as required. Since launching in 2007, over 60,000 SMEs have successfully used PeoplePerHour.com to get jobs done – whatever their size – in an environment of accountability and trust. PeoplePerHour.com now has more than 125,000 registered users and has seen more than $40 million worth of work posted on the site in the last 18 months.

In the current economy, Indian SMEs which rank 3rd in usage on the site already will benefit from being able to outsource work on an ad hoc basis to cost-effective, flexible freelancers whilst gaining expertise from global talent pool and best practice across the globe.

This site is also a boon to India’s vast unemployed workforce in smaller cities who have exceptional talent. It will also help people who would prefer to work from home, such as housewives, for example.

Announcing the launch of the PeoplePerHour.com in India, Mr. Xenios Thrasyvoulou, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said, “India is an exciting new market for PeoplePerHour.com. Traditionally, online business marketplaces are characterized by Western businesses outsourcing to low-cost freelancers on the sub-continent. However, we’re seeing growing evidence of the reverse happening: Indian businesses are outsourcing certain functions to freelancers based in Europe and the US. Perhaps this isn’t surprising given the growing status of India in the global economy.”

PeoplePerHour.com successfully amalgamates the concepts of online professional networking and an outsourcing marketplace. Key features include the ability to leave “feedback” on each service provider, which helps other users evaluate each freelance professional. The site facilitates collaboration and discussion between users and freelance professionals based on their areas of interest opening up avenues for generation of new ideas and business leads.