Google CEO Sundar Pichai made an annoucement Monday that the company is making a $10 billion investment in India. The annoucement was made at Google for India virtual live-stream event.
The event was all about focusing on accelerating India’s digital economy with this investment over the next five to seven years. “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. 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 said.
The $10 billion investment will focus on help in enabling affordable access and information to every Indian irrespective of the language they speak.
It will also help the country with its unique needs to be met by products and services. The huge investment will also help local businesses to move towards digital transformation.
Also, it will work towards using Artificial Integellince (AI) in areas like health, education, etc. One of the examples for the Pichai cited was the AI flood forecasting system which will help warn and evacuate areas that may get affected by the natural disaster. Also, an AI-powered reading tutor app Bolo aka Read Along to help kids read and learn on their own.