Google has launched hangouts for Gmail users in India.

You can continue to enjoy 1:1 video chat with any Gmail user, but now you’ll be able to add up to 9 people at once after they’ve upgraded to Google+. [blog post]

With Hangouts, you can watch YouTube videos with friends, collaborate on Google Docs or play games by adding apps to the hangout, the company said.

This is a really cool update and finally, your mailbox becomes a convergence tool. Imagine conferencing, gaming, scheduling and productivity tools all in your email.

So what is the catch? You have to sign up for Google + to be able to hangout. Given that Gmail is one of the most popular product, do you think this integration will increase engagement of G+?