Google to invest Rs 75,000 cr in India; Sundar Pichai says looking forward to working with PM Narendra Modi

Tech giant Google has announced a massive investment of Rs 75,000 crore or $10 billion in India over next 5 to 7 years, which will provide the required help to Indian startups. The company unveiled Google For India Digitisation Fund during an online event on Monday afternoon. The investment will be a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments.

While introducing the scheme, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company will be primarily working to invest in localised businesses that use specialised technologies to solve niche areas such as agricultural problems, education and literacy issues, and more.

"Building India-first products have helped us to make better products for the entire world," said Pichai, underlining how India's very specific technology needs are bringing better products to the world.

Pichai was full of praises for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that India has made huge progress under him. He gave credit to Modi government’s vision of Digital India and said that he is looking forward to working with PM Modi and Indian government. 

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Speaking at the event, Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad highlighted Google's application of AI in healthcare technologies, agriculture, weather prediction, digital education and other critical fields. He talked about digital skilling as a great opportunity that is yet to be fully exploited to realise India's true potential in cutting edge technologies.

Meanwhile, Caesar Sengupta, vice president of product management at Google, highlighted how Google's role has helped create over 1.6 million jobs, and how Google Pay has become a key mode of payment, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier today, PM Modi tweeted about having a conversation with Pichai on Google's role in India's technology narrative. The key point that he emphasised was "leveraging the power of technology to transform the lives of India’s farmers, youngsters and entrepreneurs."