Orientation.com, in conjunction with a-cube software, the offshore development arm of DSF Internet Services, on Monday unveiled its latest country portal: Orientation India (http://in.orientation.com).

In line with Orientation's strategy to provide internet users throughout the world with dedicated country and regional portals in local languages, Orientation India will be offered in both Hindi and English. With this addition, Orientation.com, the world's first global network of local and regional internet portals, has launched 17 country-specific portals to date, and continues to add new sites at an average of two per month.

Orientation India targets both the Indian and international user, allowing a parent in Mumbai to find out the localschool schedule, a rural user to participate in a chat session based in Calcutta, and an international traveler to track the weather forecast in New Delhi.

Other contents on the site includes articles from India Today; free email in Hindi and English; Usenet discussion groups; Indian IRC chat channels; and a searchable and browsable database of thousands of Indian websites.

"India is the world's largest democracy, and residents in its major cities are flocking to the internet," said Darren Thake, chairman and CEO of Orientation.com, in a statement.

"The online audience in India is 1 million strong and growing. Orientation.com is the only internet company giving Indians their own portal based in their home country and, more importantly, presented in their own language, Hindi. Our experience has shown that bilingual capabilities of a website are crucial to drawing and maintaining an audience. Thus, we will continue to provide similar services for other countries as Orientation further expands around theglobe."

Unlike other portals, Orientation India is the only dedicated site to offer both English and Hindi versions. Today, most Indian internet users speak English, but in the future, as the internet becomes more popular, and more accessible, it will be vital that it is available in the main language of the people.

"To offer free e-mail in Hindi is a ground-breaking achievement," added Thake.

"Our alliance with Orientation India is a perfect fit," said Rohit Singh of a-cube software.