“Our goal is to build a more helpful Google for everyone.”- Sundar Pichai
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet today announced a $10 billion Google for India Digitisation Fund in order to help accelerate the digital economy of the country.
Pichai stated, “Today, I’m excited to announce the Google for India Digitization Fund. Through this effort, we will invest ₹75,000 crores or approximately $10 billion, into India over the next 5-7 years.” He added, “We’ll do this through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments. This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy.”
According to Pichai, the investment of this Digitisation Fund will mainly focus on four areas that are important to India’s digitisation. They are mentioned below-
- First, enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their own language, whether it’s Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi or any other.
- Second, building new products and services that are deeply relevant to India’s unique needs.
- Third, empowering businesses as they continue or embark on their digital transformation.
- Fourth, leveraging technology and AI for social good, in areas like health, education, and agriculture.
Since 2004, the tech giant has been a proud partner in India’s digitisation journey. Sundar also mentioned some of the progress that has been witnessed in these few years, such as the online presence of small businesses in India, digital payments through GooglePay, Programs for women like Internet Saathi, AI flood forecasting system, Read Along, which is an AI-powered reading tutor app, among others.
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