Following a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Google CEO Sundar Pichai in the United States, it has been revealed that the internet giant plans to establish its global fintech operation centre at GIFT City in Gujarat. Pichai also expressed Google's ongoing commitment to investing in India through its $10 billion India Digitisation Fund. Prime Minister Modi's visit to the US, which is taking place from June 21 to June 24, upon the invitation of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, included interactions with various top CEOs. Among them were Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; Tim Cook, CEO of Apple; Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI; and Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, among others.
During the meeting, Pichai stated, "Today we are pleased to announce the opening of our global fintech operations centre in GIFT City, Gujarat. This move will solidify India's position as a leader in fintech, thanks to the success of UPI and Aadhaar. We will build upon this foundation and expand our reach globally," as reported by PTI.
The CEO, who hails from India, expressed his excitement at witnessing the progress the country has made, particularly in relation to the Digital India vision and the resulting economic opportunities. He further commended Prime Minister Modi for his forward-thinking Digital India vision, which has become a blueprint for other nations.
Pichai mentioned his previous meeting with the Prime Minister in December, where they discussed Google's $10 billion investment in the India Digitisation Fund. He emphasised that Google would continue to invest through this fund, particularly in companies focusing on artificial intelligence. As part of these efforts, Google has initiated a 100-language initiative and will soon introduce bots in more Indian languages.
The Ministry of External Affairs tweeted that Prime Minister Modi had invited Pichai to explore further collaborations in artificial intelligence, fintech, cybersecurity products and services, as well as mobile device manufacturing in India. They also discussed potential partnerships between Google and Indian academic institutions to promote research and development, as well as skill development.
Google's plans to invest $10 billion in India over the next five to seven years were initially announced in July 2020, aiming to accelerate the adoption of digital services in this key market. During Pichai's visit to India in December of the same year, he revealed that a portion of the India Digitisation Fund would be specifically allocated to startups led by women, with one-fourth of the $300 million fund earmarked for this purpose.
In addition, Google had announced collaborations with the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru. These collaborations involved collecting speech data from 773 districts across India to enhance language translation and search technology. Google also granted $1 million to establish India's first responsible artificial intelligence centre at IIT Madras and another $1 million through Google.Org to Wadhwani AI, with the aim of leveraging advanced technology for improved agricultural outcomes.
Subscribe And Follow ABP Live On Telegram: https://t.me/officialabplive