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Google to pump in Rs 75,000cr to help India go digital
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SME Times News Bureau | 13 Jul, 2020
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar
Pichai on Monday announced a Google for India Digitisation Fund through
which the company will invest Rs 75,000 crore, or approximately $10
billion, over the next five to seven years to drive digital
transformation in the country.
"We'll do this through a mix of
equity investments, partnership investments, and operational,
infrastructure and ecosystem investments. This is a reflection of our
confidence in the future of India and its digital economy," Pichai said
during the Google for India virtual conference.
The fund will focus on four areas that are important to India's digitisation.
These
include enabling affordable access to the internet and to information
for every Indian in their own language and building new products and
services that are deeply relevant to India's unique needs including
consumer tech, education, health and agriculture.
The Google for
India Digitisation Fund will also focus on empowering businesses
especially small and medium businesses as they continue or embark on
their digital transformation.
Another area of focus will be
leveraging technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for social good,
including digital literacy, outbreak predictions, and support for rural
economies, Pichai said.
Giving a special address at the event,
India's Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad expressed hope that with
this new fund, Google will also focus on promoting the country's
startups further.
"There is immense scope for Google to deploy
artificial intelligence and undertake new initiatives in the field of
agriculture, weather prediction, healthcare in the wake of Covid-19
challenges and most importantly in digital education," Prasad said.
"Today,
India's app economy is growing very powerfully, but we must not just
download apps. It is important also to upload apps from India," the IT
minister noted.
Google also announced new initiatives as part of its ongoing efforts towards the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Now
more than ever, to survive and grow, every Indian business must be a
digital business. And we are investing in helping Indian businesses go
digital and helping Indian workers learn, grow and find better jobs,"
said Caesar Sengupta, GM & VP of Payments and Next Billion Users,
Google.
He announced a new initiative with Prasar Bharati,
launching an edutainment series on Doordarshan on how small businesses
can adopt digital tools and adapt to the current situation, using
examples of real life Indian businesses.
Talking about the "Spot
Platform" on Google Pay, he shared that the Google Pay Nearby Stores
Spot which was introduced in March this year to improve offline merchant
discoverability and to help people find shops near them to see what
essential food items are in stock, has been used by more than two
million users.
To support people who are looking for work, he
shared that the Job Spot on Google Pay, now allows for remote interviews
and remote work listings so that people who are unemployed can secure
employment and income more quickly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Google
also announced a partnership with CBSE to train over one million
teachers in 22,000 schools across India by the end of 2020, to deliver
blended learning that combines the classroom approach with online
learning, using free tools like G Suite for Education, Google Classroom,
YouTube and more.
To support underserved low-income communities,
Sapna Chadha, Senior Country Marketing Director, Southeast Asia &
India, also announced a new Google.org grant of $1 million to Kaivalya
Education Foundation (KEF) as part of the Global Distance Learning Fund.
Using
these funds, the KEF will work with the Central Square Foundation and
TeacherApp to train 700,000 teachers to deliver virtual education for
students so that they can continue learning at home over mass media such
as TV and radio, wherever smartphones or internet access are not
available.
"Google's efforts to bring technology and thereby,
knowledge and learning to students in every part of the country is
commendable," Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Union Human Resources
Development Minister, said while speaking at the event.
"The
Internet has emerged as a lifeline during the pandemic, which needs to
be strengthened and we welcome Google's initiatives like free access to
learning resources, as well as their collaboration with CBSE to train 1
million teachers on tech-enabled education," he said.
At the event, Google also shared updates on the work it has been doing since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak in India.
Google
said it has seen over two billion searches on Covid, across different
languages on Google platforms in the last two months.
The Google
CEO on Monday also interacted with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a
wide range of subjects, particularly leveraging the power of technology
to transform the lives of India's farmers, youngsters and entrepreneurs.
In
the virtual meeting with Pichai, the Prime Minister also discussed the
new work culture that is emerging during the Covid-19 crisis.
"This
morning, (I) 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," Modi said in a series of tweets.
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