Microsoft-owned open source repository platform GitHub has announced that its 'Sponsors' programme is now available in India and the developers can create 'Sponsors' profiles and start receiving financial support for their contributions to open source. Early users have already started receiving financial support, recognition from influential people in the open source community, and GitHub Sponsors is even making it easier for them to secure internships and full-time positions, the company said in a statement late on Monday.

Developers in India who were already on the waitlist are now part of the the programme. The number of developers on GitHub in India now totals more than eight million and growing, making it the second-largest developer community on GitHub. Indian developers have made over 200 million contributions to open source software projects in the last year, and more than 10 million software projects from around the world depend on packages created in India.