Sundar Pichai announces Google’s $10 Billion fund for India’s digital economy

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on July 13 announced a $10 billion GoogleForIndia Digitisation Fund. Under the fund, Google will invest roughly Rs 75,000 crore in India over the next 5-7 years. “I am glad to announce  – Google for India digitization fund – it’s $10 billion dollars for India alone,” Sundar Pichai said in a tweet.

The investment will be done through a mix of equity investments, partnerships and operational infrastructure in ecosystem investments, he said.

Pichai announced this investment after his virtual meeting earlier today with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM Modi had tweeted, “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.

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. https://t.co/H0EUFYSD1q

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) July 13, 2020

This morning, had an extremely fruitful interaction with @sundarpichai. 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. pic.twitter.com/IS9W24zZxs

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 13, 2020

“One of the challenges of this moment is that we can’t visit the people we love or the places we call home. During this time, the ability to be online has been a lifeline to so many of us: whether you’re a small business trying to stay afloat…a parent looking for updates on how to keep your family healthy … or a student trying to keep up with your studies. Being helpful in these moments is at the core of Google’s mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” Sundar Pichai, Madurai-born Google CEO said.

“This mission is deeply personal to me. Growing up, technology provided a window to a world outside my own. It also brought us closer together as a family. Every evening we were drawn to the television by Doordarshan’s special rendition of “Sare Jahan Se Accha,” Sundar Pichai wrote in his address letter on Google for India initiative.

Google India Digitization Fund will be used for investments in Indian innovations and development of infrastructure, Sundar Pichai said.

Pichai said he wanted India not only to benefit from next wave of innovation but to lead it. Google, he said, will focus on the following four areas of investment;
– affordable access to Indian languages
– building new products and services unique to India
– empowering business, and- leveraging AI  in health, education, and agriculture.