Mumbai, June 29 :     Yahoo Inc today made its much awaited debut in the Indian internet arena with the launch of Yahoo!India (www.yahoo.co.in), with co-founder Jerry Yang pointing out that the network's biggest challenge would be to make it as a local brand, despite establishing itself as a leading global brand. The $ 589 million giant is now planning to invest in the local marketplace for building the Yahoo brand, apart from assembling local themes to achieve this objective. 'We have a very good brand and a great product. With these investments, we want to be a part of the internet landscape in the country,' Yang told The Telegraph. However, he did not reveal either the investment that would be made by the multinational or its business plan for the country. Yahoo!India will be based in Mumbai. The company, which has followed the principle of offering localised content, has in this regard decided to have a local team apart from aggregating local content, for which it has tied up with over 40 content partners in the fields of entertainment, sports, finance and news. Yang said that Yahoo has started off with the advantage of having over 4 million mail users from India for its recognised portal yahoo.com. 'With this, we have captured a large population from India. We have now to convert this into local usage,' he said. Outlining his idea for the country, he stated that while Yahoo is 'here for a long haul,' it would do so by making local commitments. The local portal, according to officials, would offer users an easy way to locate useful internet content through its powerful search engine, for which it recently tied up with Google. They added that the portal featured a directory of web sites organised by a team of web surfers into 14 easy-to-use categories. To meet the needs of local consumers, Yahoo!India offers comprehensive local and global programming in news, finance, cricket, movies, greetings and weather. In addition to these facilities, the site also provides various communication tools and services that included e-mail through a local 'yahoo.co.in' address, chat and other messenger features. Speaking to newspersons today on the occasion of its launch, Yang said that India is a strategic market for the network, even as its entry into the country was long overdue. 'We are excited about the growth potential in this market and the user base,' he added.