Web hosting and domain name registrations company GoDaddy has appointed Rajiv Sodhi as Managing Director of GoDaddy India. Sodhi is the first ever international executive appointed by GoDaddy and will be based near New Delhi, India. Sodhi will be responsible for overseeing GoDaddy's expansion into the Indian market and is already beginning the process of hiring a team.

Prior to GoDaddy, Sodhi worked in various roles at Microsoft India dating back to 2001. He recently held the positions of Director of SMB and Cloud Business, both with Microsoft. Sodhi's expertise is with small-to-midsize businesses looking to develop or enhance their online presence.

The company has announced that India has been identified as a priority market for GoDaddy's global expansion. "We knew we needed an experienced technologist, with a deep understanding of India's culture and our GoDaddy brand of customer service. Rajiv's 14 years of experience in the technology space brings all these qualities to our business, as well as his strategic view on how to help grow online businesses," said GoDaddy CEO Warren Adelman, adding, "Together, our vision is to expand our footprint in India, hire locally and serve customers in India with people who speak their language."

"GoDaddy's understanding of small business needs, their capacity to serve a large customer-base and their commitment to first-rate service are the primary attributes that drew me to GoDaddy India. This is the dawn of a new era for GoDaddy. In the months ahead, GoDaddy India will be ramping up our investments in people, assets and resources," Sodhi explained.

Initial engagements in India are already underway. Last month, GoDaddy hosted two Web developer events in Chennai and Mumbai, India. GoDaddy Senior Director of Product Development Gomathi Rajesh spoke at both events, talking to a few hundred developers about various opportunities for online businesses in India, including ways to better leverage the Internet.

GoDaddy is based in Scottsdale, Ariz., USA.  Internationally, it has data center facilities in Europe and Asia, as well as an office in Canada. India is expected to be GoDaddy's largest international office before the end of the year. In 2011, GoDaddy received a growth investment from KKR, Silver Lake and TCV that was designed, in large part, to fuel the company's international expansion.