There will soon be reason to pay more attention to the Web usage of India. Google made the news this morning by offering 500,000 free websites to small and medium businesses in India.

Google partnered with web hosting powerhouse HostGator to offer free domain names and website hosting for a period of one year. After the 12 months are up, businesses will have the option to renew their services with HostGator at a discounted fee. Only organizations in India will qualify.

Google is also offering SMB’s in India a 2500 rupees (US$50) free advertising trial on Google AdWords to promote their sites.