Google to invest Rs 75,000 cr to boost India’s digital economy

| | New Delhi
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Google to invest Rs 75,000 cr to boost India’s digital economy

Tuesday, 14 July 2020 | PNS | New Delhi

Google to invest Rs 75,000 cr to boost India’s digital economy

Google will invest Rs 75,000 crore ($10 billion) in India to boost the digital economy over the next five to seven years. The investment will be done through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments.

The development comes after a virtual meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday. According to Google, this investment will help realise PM’s vision of a Digital India.

“Today at #GoogleForIndia we announced a new $10B digitization fund to help accelerate India’s digital economy.” We’re proud to support PM @narendramodi’s vision for Digital India — many thanks to Minister @rsprasad & Minister @DrRPNishank for joining us,” Pichai, the 48-year-old Indian-American Google CEO, wrote in a tweet.

Calling India’s digital journey far from complete, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the Google for India Digitization Fund that will invest nearly $10 billion in India over the next five to seven 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,” wrote Pichai.

“This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy,” Pichai said on a webcast during the annual ‘Google for India’ event. “Investments will focus on four areas important to India’s digitization,” Google said in a statement.

“First, enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their own language, whether it’s Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi or any other. Second, building new products and services that are deeply relevant to India’s unique needs. Third, 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,” it said.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi  tweeted that he had “an extremely fruitful interaction” with  Google CEO 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,” the Prime Minister wrote on Twitter. The Prime Minister also shared pictures of the virtual interaction.

In another post, PM Modi tweeted “During our interaction, @sundarpichai 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.”

A statement from his office said that during the interaction, the Prime Minister “remarked that India is amongst the most open economies in the world”.

The Prime Minister “discussed the issue of data security and concerns around privacy,” adding that “tech companies need to put in efforts to bridge the trust deficit”.

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