New Delhi: Google is building voice and text search for over 100 Indian languages. It will spend USD 75 million to support women-led startups in India, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said at the start of his visit to India – a nation that he saw as a big export economy. India, he said, will be a big export economy and it needs to create a balance between safeguarding citizens and enabling companies to innovate with its framework.
Pichai first met Telecom and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and spoke at a ‘Google for India 2022’ event before calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi here Monday.
“Thank you for a great meeting today PM @narendramodi. Inspiring to see the rapid pace of technological change under your leadership. Look forward to continuing our strong partnership and supporting India’s G20 presidency to advance an open, connected internet that works for all,” Sundar Pichai tweeted after the meeting.
Google however, did not disclose what was discussed during the meeting. Pichai in a blog to mark the start of the visit to India stated that he would be discussing with Modi how Google is ‘supporting small businesses and start-ups, investing in cybersecurity, providing education and skills training, applying AI in sectors like agriculture and healthcare, and other priorities’.
“Prime Minister Modi’s Digital India vision has helped to accelerate the progress we’re seeing across India. I’m excited for India to share its experience with the world as it takes over the G20 presidency in 2023,” Pichai said.
While speaking at Google for India 2022 event, Pichai said a part of India Digitisation Fund (IDF) is increasingly focussing on startups from India and one-fourth amount of USD 300 million from the fund will be invested in entities that are led by women.
In July 2020, Google had announced plans to invest USD 10 billion in India over next five to seven years as the search giant looks to help accelerate adoption of digital services in the key overseas market.
The India-born CEO said that the technology is working at a big scale and touching lives of people around the world, which calls for framing responsible and balanced regulation.
“Given the scale and technology leadership it (India) will have, it’s important to make sure you are balancing, putting in safeguards for people. You’re creating an innovative framework, so that companies can innovate on top of a certainty in the legal framework. I think it is an important moment in time. India will also be a big export economy. It will benefit from an open and connected internet and getting that balance right will be important,” Pichai said at the event.
Pichai is on his visit to India after a gap of around three-and-a-half years. He said during each visit he notices that the sophistication of the Indian startup ecosystem is measurably improving and Indian startups like ‘Glance’ are getting noticed worldwide.
“There is no better time to do a start-up than the current moment, even though we are working through a macro-economic moment like this. Companies like Google were created in moments of downturn. I think I am very bullish about it over time,” Pichai stated.
In his blog, Pichai said Google is working on making text and voice internet search available in over 100 Indian languages. Google announced a collaboration with Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science to collect speech data from 773 districts across India to fine-tune its language translation and search technology.
Google also announced a grant of USD 1 million to set up India’s first responsible AI (Artificial Intelligence) centre at IIT Madras and USD 1 million grant via Google.Org to Wadhwani AI towards using advanced technology for better agricultural outcomes.
Pichai said the pace of technological change in the country has been extraordinary and Google is supporting small businesses and startups, investing in cybersecurity, providing education and skills training, and applying AI in sectors like agriculture and healthcare.
“I’m here to see progress being made from our USD 10 billion, 10-year India Digitization Fund (IDF), and share new ways. We’re helping to advance India’s digital future at our Google for India event,” Pichai informed.