Professional networking site LinkedIn has crossed the 15 million mark in India, according to country manager Hari V. Krishnan. India is LinkedIn Corp.’s largest market outside the US in terms of membership, currently accounting for 9.3 per cent of the site’s overall user base of 161 million. In December 2011, LinkedIn had crossed 13 million members mark India.

“This milestone (15 million) demonstrates that professional networking is becoming increasingly important to Indian professionals. In just three years, we have scaled our operations in India and our member base has grown by over 300 per cent,” said Krishnan.

LinkedIn started its India operations in November 2009 with a member base of 3.4 million. It is headquartered in Mumbai with an office in Gurgaon and had launched a technology centre in Bangalore, its first such centre outside the US. LinkedIn was founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003.

In February 2012, LinkedIn launched localized pricing for hiring solutions in India and in the January-March quarter 2012, hiring accounted for 54 per cent of LinkedIn’s global revenue, followed by marketing solutions (26 per cent) and premium (paid) accounts (20 per cent). While the company does not break up India revenue, it does follow a similar pattern, according to social media analysts. LinkedIn’s global acquisition of SlideShare this May for $119 million (around Rs658 crore today) is expected to help advance its cause.