During the Google For India event for 2020, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the company will invest INR 75,000 Cr or approximately $10 Bn under the Google For India Digitization Fund for the Indian tech and startup ecosystem. The fund will be invested in businesses, social impact projects and towards supporting the Indian government’s digitisation efforts over the next 5-7 years.
Pichai added that the fund will invest through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments.
Calling the fund a reflection of its confidence in the future of India’s digital economy, the company said the fund would go towards four primary areas:
- Enabling affordable internet access and information for Indians in Indian languages
- Building new products and services that are relevant to India’s unique needs and challenges
- Empowering businesses in their digital transformation journey
- Leveraging technology and AI for social good in areas like health, education, and agriculture
Google did not reveal how it would be releasing these funds or any commitment per year. It has just announced the corpus and the target areas at the moment.
In further announcements made during the live virtual event, Google announced a partnership with state-broadcaster Prasar Bharti for the creation of an edutainment series on small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India, who’ve found success since adopting digital solutions for their business needs.
Google also said that it had partnered with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for enabling more than 1 Mn teachers across the country to deliver blended learning to students through a mix of G Suite products such as Google Meets, Google Classrooms, and Read Along, among others. Keeping the disruption to education due to the Covid-19 pandemic in mind, the company also announced a $1 Mn grant for the Kaivalya Education Foundation, to train more than 700,000 teachers to deliver virtual education for students from low-income communities.
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Author: Harshit Rakheja
Date : 2020-07-13T09:13:08.000Z