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Google announces Rs 75,000 crore fund to help accelerate India’s digital economy
Google announced a Rs 75,000 crore fund to help accelerate India’s digital economy.
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Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at the Keynote address at the Google I/O Conference at Mountain View, California, USA. (JP/Dylan Amirio)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday interacted with Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai on a wide range of subjects.
The duo interacted on particularly leveraging the power of technology to transform the lives of India’s farmers, youngsters and entrepreneurs.
They also spoke on the new work culture emerging during the corona crisis.
Google announced a Rs 75,000 crore fund to help accelerate India’s digital economy.
Marking one of its biggest commitments to a growth market, the tech giant said the fund would be used over the next five to seven years through equity investments and tie-ups.
“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,” Mr Pichai, the 48-year-old Indian-American Google CEO, wrote in a tweet.
“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.
Pichai briefed the Prime Minister about the efforts undertaken by Google to help spread awareness and provide reliable information about COVID-19.
He said that the strong step of Lockdown initiated by the Prime Minister set up a very strong foundation of India’s battle against the pandemic.
PM Modi appreciated the proactive role played by Google in battling misinformation and conveying information about necessary precautions. He also talked about further leveraging technology in providing healthcare services.
Prime Minister said that Indians are adjusting to and adopting technology at a rapid pace. He talked about farmers benefiting from technology and the possible wide-ranging benefits of AI in agriculture.
PM explored the idea of virtual labs that can be used by students as well as farmers. Sundar Pichai briefed the PM about new products and initiatives by Google in the country. He mentioned about the launch of AI Research Lab in Bengaluru, while also highlighting the benefits of Google’s flood forecasting efforts.
Prime Minister was briefed about Google’s plan to launch a large investment fund and develop strategic partnerships in India. Prime Minister remarked that India is amongst the most open economies in the world. He also spoke about recent steps taken by the government towards reforming agriculture and about the campaign to create new jobs, while also highlighting the importance of re-skilling.
Prime Minister discussed the issue of data security and concerns around privacy. He said that tech companies need to put in efforts to bridge the trust deficit. He also talked about cybercrimes and threats in the form of cyberattacks.
Other areas of discussion included technological solutions to expand the scope of online education, access to technology in the native language, use of AR/VR to give a stadium-like viewing experience in the field of sports, and progress in the area of digital payments.
