COURTESY HT JULY 14

Google pledges $10bn for India
Deeksha Bhardwaj

letters@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi : Google chief executive officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai on Monday said his company will invest nearly $10 billion into developing digital infrastructure and for funding innovation in India over the next five to seven years, shortly after holding an online meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India-born Pichai made the announcement at the sixth edition of Google for India event, saying the tech giant will help expand the scope of digital payments using Google Pay, and develop low-cost smartphones and other products and services. He hoped India will lead the next wave of innovation.

“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 tweeted after his interaction with Pichai.

“I was delighted to know more about the efforts of @Google in several sectors, be it in education, learning, @_DigitalIndia, furthering digital payments and more,” Modi added, referring to a flagship programme of his government.

Later, at the Google for India event, Pichai said Google for India Digitization Fund will invest $10 billion (about ~75,000 crore) over the next five to seven years, stressing that the move is “a reflection our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy