Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday. The meeting comes nearly four months after Google announced an investment of $10 billion in the Indian Digitalization Fund.
During the meeting, three key departments were mainly discussed, that are Chromebooks, AI & UPI, and opening its global fintech operations centre at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) in Gandhinagar.
Google’s CEO had announced the investment during a meeting with the Indian Prime Minister visiting the United States in June this year.
Chromebooks in India
In the conversation, Modi and Sundar Pichai discussed Google’s plan to participate in the promotion of the electronics manufacturing ecosystem in India, the Times of India reported. The Prime Minister appreciated Google’s Partnership With HP Company To Make Chromebooks In India.
Fintech operations centre in Gujrat
The report further said that the Indian Prime Minister welcomed Google’s plans to open a Global FinTech Operation Center at The Gujarat International Finance Tech City (GIFT) in Gandhinagar. Sundar Pichai briefed the Prime Minister on Google’s plans to improve financial inclusion in India by leveraging the power and reach of G-Pay and UPay. He also emphasized Google’s commitment to contribute to India’s growth momentum.
AI and UPI
The Prime Minister acknowledged Google’s initiative of 100 languages and encouraged efforts to make artificial intelligence tools available in Indian languages. He also encouraged Google to work on artificial intelligence tools for good governance.
Pichai also informed the PM about the company’s plans to improve financial inclusion in India by leveraging the strength and reach of GPay and UPI.
The Prime Minister also invited Google to cooperate in the upcoming global partnership on the Artificial Intelligence Summit, which India will host in New Delhi in December 2023. Google is now part of the Indian IT sector, which earned $ 245 billion domestically and from exports in fiscal year 2023. By March 2023, the total number of people employed in this sector had reached 5.4 million. According to various Indian media, India is the largest exporter of IT in the global economy.
The share of the IT sector in India’s GDP increased from 1.2% in 1998 to 10% in 2019. Exports in the Indian IT industry are very high and account for 79% of the total income of the industry. However, the domestic market is also very important and the revenue is significantly higher here too.
According to government data, AI is expected to add USD $967 billion to the Indian economy by 2035 and USD 450–500 billion to India’s GDP by 2025, accounting for 10% of the country’s USD 5 trillion GDP target.
