84,000,000 Indians access Facebook on mobile

Image: Adnan Abidi / Reuters

Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, whose wealth crossed $1 billion in January (according to Forbes estimates), attended an interactive session organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi on July 2.

84,000,000 is the number of Indian users who access Facebook on mobile phones. Sandberg says India, with a total of 100 million users, is Facebook’s second-largest market after the US and “of critical importance” as the social networking giant “banks on a growing mobile user base”. Aiming to reduce data charges for these users, Facebook is testing a feature in India that lets a mobile phone user click a button to call a brand advertiser and immediately disconnect  the call. The user then receives a return call from the advertiser, which delivers recorded messages with sponsored information about everything from cricket scores to shopping discounts.