Google to invest ₹75,000 crore in India over next 5-7 years: Pichai

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday (July 13) announced an investment of ₹75,000 crore in India over the next 5-7 years through ‘Google for India Digitisation Fund’.

Addressing Google for India event, Pichai asserted that the latest move was a reflection of the company’s confidence in future of India and its digital economy. “Today, I am excited to announce Google for India digitisation fund. Through this effort, we will invest ₹75,000 crore or $10 billion in India for next 5-7 years,” Pichai said.

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

Investments will focus on four key areas of India’s digitisation, he said. This includes enabling affordable access and information to every Indian in their own language, building new products and services relevant to India’s unique needs, empowering businesses as they continue to embark in digital transformation, and leveraging technology and Artificial Intelligence for social good in areas like healthcare, education and agriculture.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with the Google CEO and discussed issues such as leveraging the power of technology to transform the lives of India’s farmers and youths and the importance of data security.

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

During the interaction, they also 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,” the prime minister said in a series of tweets, sharing pictures of the virtual interaction.