Google to invest $10 billion in India to boost digital economy

New Delhi, Jul 13 (efe-epa).- Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Monday that the United States-based tech giant would set up a fund for digitalizing the Indian economy, investing around $10 billion in the country within the next 5 to 7 years.

“Today I am excited to announce the ‘Google for India’ digitization fund. Through this effort we will invest 750 billion rupees or approximately 10 billion dollars into India (…). We’ll do this through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure, and ecosystem investments,” Pichai said in the sixth edition of the “Google for India” event, held virtually this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said that the company had tested many of its innovations in India before exporting them to the rest of the world, which has “deepened our understanding of how technology can be helpful to all different types of people.”

However, Pichai said India still had a long way to go in its “digital journey,” adding that there was “more work to do in order to make internet affordable and useful for a million indians.”

The project “is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy,” said the CEO, identifying objectives such as enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their own language and creating new products and services that are “deeply relevant to India’s unique needs.”

The initiative also seeks to “empower businesses” to continue their digital transformation and use technology and artificial intelligence for social good in areas such as health, education and agriculture.

Indian Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hailed the project during the event and said that Google was “a defining platform of change, of empowerment, innovation, information and most importantly digital awakening.”

He said that the company’s push would help “Digital India” to transform the lives of many Indians through “digital inclusion” and “more and more innovation.” EFE-EPA

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