Google May Acquire Indian Local Search Engine JustDial

In what could be seen as India's biggest acquisition by tech giant Google, the company is reportedly in talks with Mumbai headquartered local search engine Just Dial to acquire its business, says a report by Business Standard.

The report quotes an investment banker said to be familiar with the discussions. "Google has been talking to Just Dial for an acquisition for some time. Both the companies entered into exclusive talks about two months ago," says the report quoting the investment banker. It may take some time before the deal is finalised, adds the report.

Shares of Just Dial advanced nearly 20 percent in early trade after the reports that the internet giant Google is in talks with the company.

If this acquisition happened then this will be Google's second Indian acquistion and that's too within just one year.

Founded 21 years ago by V S Mani, Just Dial had 10,892 employees at the end of September, 2017 quarter.

In July, this year only, Google had acquired an another Indian startup Halli Labs, which was working on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

In 2014, the internet giant had acquired Bangalore based cybersecurity firm Imperium.

In August this year, Google had acquired Seattle-based health monitoring startup Senosis Health which was founded by Indian-origin Professor Shwetak Patel along with four others.

Just Dial accuses US-based firm of stealing database of 9 million clients

Online phone directory giant, Just Dial, recently lodged a police complaint in the Bangurnagar Police station in Malad alleging that a rival listing company called Clear India Pvt. Ltd. has stolen its database of 9 million clients.

An FIR was lodged in the case and the police traced the roots of Clear Indian Pvt. Ltd. to the United States and Punjab. The cops also suspect the involvement of an insider in the case.

The complaint filed by the Just Dial Manager Raman Muttukrishnan accuses Clear India of stealing the online phone directory giant’s database and then using the database for the benefit of their own business.

The written complaint stated that Just Dial is a registered company with a database of nearly 9.1 million listings and this whole database was allegedly stolen by Clear India Pvt. Ltd.  In the complaint, Just Dial also accuses Clear India of sabotaging their business and maligning the company’s reputation. The complaint further accuses Clear India of accessing the giant’s computer and system networks and copying the whole data without the online phone directory giant’s permission.  Even the junk data that the company used for testing was stolen.

According to the police, the matter came to Just Dial’s light when it started receiving complaint calls from their angry clients. The clients informed the company that all their data and details were also available on a different website that they had never approached. Seeing the complaint calls plump in number the company sensed that something was amiss and immediately checked its internal system and other website and found that the clients were in fact true. The company then immediately lodged an FIR with the police station in Malad.

According to a Bangurnagar Police officer, “It’s not possible without someone from Just Dial helping the accused. We are recording statements of the staff and checking CCTV footage. Being a cybercrime, it is a lengthy process, but the accused will be tracked down soon”.

An internal investigating team at JustDial has found out that Clear India is not a registered company though they have their own website. Clear India belongs to some Singh brothers based in the US. The company also has a branch in Chandigarh and a police team has already been sent to the place for further investigations.

Just Dial accuses US-based firm of stealing database of 9 million clients

Online phone directory giant, Just Dial, recently lodged a police complaint in the Bangurnagar Police station in Malad alleging that a rival listing company called Clear India Pvt. Ltd. has stolen its database of 9 million clients.

An FIR was lodged in the case and the police traced the roots of Clear Indian Pvt. Ltd. to the United States and Punjab. The cops also suspect the involvement of an insider in the case.

The complaint filed by the Just Dial Manager Raman Muttukrishnan accuses Clear India of stealing the online phone directory giant’s database and then using the database for the benefit of their own business.

The written complaint stated that Just Dial is a registered company with a database of nearly 9.1 million listings and this whole database was allegedly stolen by Clear India Pvt. Ltd.  In the complaint, Just Dial also accuses Clear India of sabotaging their business and maligning the company’s reputation. The complaint further accuses Clear India of accessing the giant’s computer and system networks and copying the whole data without the online phone directory giant’s permission.  Even the junk data that the company used for testing was stolen.

According to the police, the matter came to Just Dial’s light when it started receiving complaint calls from their angry clients. The clients informed the company that all their data and details were also available on a different website that they had never approached. Seeing the complaint calls plump in number the company sensed that something was amiss and immediately checked its internal system and other website and found that the clients were in fact true. The company then immediately lodged an FIR with the police station in Malad.

According to a Bangurnagar Police officer, “It’s not possible without someone from Just Dial helping the accused. We are recording statements of the staff and checking CCTV footage. Being a cybercrime, it is a lengthy process, but the accused will be tracked down soon”.

An internal investigating team at JustDial has found out that Clear India is not a registered company though they have their own website. Clear India belongs to some Singh brothers based in the US. The company also has a branch in Chandigarh and a police team has already been sent to the place for further investigations.