Google will set up its global fintech operation center at GIFT City in Gujarat, its CEO Sundar Pichai said. The Indian-origin CEO said it is exciting to see the progress that the country has made, particularly around the vision of Digital India and the economic opportunity.
Pichai added that Prime Minister Modi’s vision for Digital India was ahead of its time. “I now see it as a blueprint that other countries are looking to do.” In July 2020, Google announced plans to invest $10 billion in an India Digitization Fund over the next five to seven years as it plans to help accelerate the adoption of digital services in the key overseas market.
A part of the India Digitization Fund will focus on startups from India and approximately one-fourth of the amount will be invested in entities that are led by women.
India’s ministry of external affairs said Prime Minister Modi invited Pichai to explore further avenues of collaboration in the domains of artificial intelligence, fintech, and cybersecurity products and services, as well as mobile device manufacturing in India. They also discussed collaboration between Google and academic institutions in India to promote research and development, and skill development.
Google collaborates with the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science to collect speech data from 773 counties across India to fine-tune its language translation and search technology. It has also announced a grant of $1 million to set up an artificial intelligence center at IIT Madras and a $1 million grant via Google.Org to Wadhwani AI toward using advanced technology for better agricultural outcomes.
