Google on Monday, 13 July announced a a $10 billion fun to “help accelerate India’s digital economy.”
Speaking at the ‘Google for India’ event, held entirely online this year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said, “Today, I’m excited to announce the Google for India Digitization Fund. Through this effort, we will invest Rs 75,000 crore, or approximately $10 billion, into India over the next 5-7 years.”
“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,” Pichai added.
Union Electronics & IT Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, who also spoke at the event congratulated Pichai as a ‘powerful symbol’ of India’s digital prowess and thanked him for the fund allocation. Prasad said the investment signifies that “India’s moment has arrived.’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on Monday of his meeting with Pichai earlier in the day. “We spoke on a wide range of subjects, particularly leveraging the power of technology to transform the lives of India’s farmers, youngsters and entrepreneurs,” PM Modi’s tweet said.
Pichai anounced the investments will focus on four areas important to India’s digitisation:
- Enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their own language, whether it’s Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi or any other
- Building new products and services that are deeply relevant to India’s unique needs
- 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
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