Google announces $10 billion investment in India

Google has announced an investment of $10 billion (over 16 trillion Pakistani rupees) in India during the next few years.

The announcement was made by Google Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai during a speech at the company’s annual event in India.

This year, the event announced the creation of the Google for India Digitization Fund, under which the company will make an investment of $10 billion during the next 5 to 7 years.

The fund will ensure investment availability for local technology companies, partnerships and infrastructure, Sundar Pachai said.

The company will focus on four areas, including language-based services, helping local companies become part of the digital world, and providing services tailored to local needs.

The fourth sector will be based on the use of AI technology for health, education and agriculture.

Google has been hosting an event in India every year since 2015 and last year the company announced the establishment of an AI lab and the introduction of mobile payments.

Ahead of the event, Google’s chief executive officer met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to discuss various issues.

Modi discussed with Google chief executive the challenges posed by the global pandemic.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a message on social networking site Twitter, “This morning, had an extremely fruitful interaction with Sundar Pichai. 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.”

“During our interaction, Sundar Pichai and I spoke about the new work culture that is emerging in the times of COVID-19. We discussed the challenges the global pandemic has brought to areas such as sports. We also talked about the importance of data security and cyber safety,” the Indian prime minister added.

He further wrote, “I was delighted to know more about the efforts of Google in several sectors, be it in education, learning, DigitalIndia, furthering digital payments and more.”

Sundar Pichai in replying of Narendra Modi Tweets wrote, “Thank you for your time, PM Narendra Modi
– very optimistic about your vision for Digital India and excited to continue our work towards it. Later today we’ll share our next steps on that journey at #GoogleForIndia.”

Thank you for your time, PM @narendramodi – very optimistic about your vision for Digital India and excited to continue our work towards it. Later today we’ll share our next steps on that journey at #GoogleForIndia.

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) July 13, 2020

I was delighted to know more about the efforts of @Google in several sectors, be it in education, learning, @_DigitalIndia, furthering digital payments and more. @sundarpichai

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 13, 2020