Google unveils new initiatives for India, from AI to Digital Public Infrastructure

Roma Datta Chobey, Managing Director of Google India, stated that as India increasingly adopts technology, Google’s involvement in the country has also grown significantly over the years.

New Delhi: Tech giant Google on Thursday announced several key initiatives for the India market, including an open-source ‘AI Agent Framework,’ more local data storage options, a digital public infrastructure (DPI) model, clean energy partnerships and a new Google Safety Engineering Center (GSEC) in the country next year.

Roma Datta Chobey, Managing Director, Google India, said that as India embraces tech more deeply, Google’s engagement with the country too has deepened over the years.

“We’re expanding Gemini Live, the Gemini app’s mobile conversation experience, and AI Overviews in Google Search to more Indian languages,” she said during the event marking the 10th edition of ‘Google for India’ initiative.

With new AI-powered tools, businesses in the country can create captivating visuals and videos to showcase their products, update their online presence for a more immersive experience, and effectively engage customers with instant chat integrated in their Google Search listings.

Google Pay is expanding access to credit in India with new offerings designed to meet the diverse needs of Indian users.

This includes a new partnership with Aditya Birla Finance Limited and gold-backed loans in partnership with Muthoot Finance, informed Google.

“Starting next year, Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) ID Cards will also be accessible in the Google Wallet app, in partnership with Eka Care,” said the company.

Google also launched an open-source AI Agent Framework in India, powered by Gemini.

On India’s data sovereignty, organisations spanning all sectors, including the public sector, will have the option to both store their data at-rest and conduct machine learning processing for our cutting-edge large language model, Gemini 1.5 Flash, entirely within India.

Google is also launching “DPI in a Box” with EkStep Foundation.

This “plug-and-play” model, leveraging open networks, Aadhaar, and Sovereign Cloud technology, empowers other nations to build their own robust digital public infrastructure.

“To better protect Android users from financial fraud, we’re soon piloting enhanced fraud protection within Google Play Protect in India. Building on our commitment to user safety, we will establish a new Google Safety Engineering Center (GSEC) in India in 2025,” said Chobey.

“We are sharing two new clean energy partnerships in India that will add 186 megawatts of renewable power to the grid. We’re partnering with CleanMax to harness wind and solar power in Karnataka and Rajasthan, and with Adani Energy for a new solar-wind hybrid plant in Gujarat,” she informed.

According to Google, ‘AI Skills House’ initiative aims to equip 10 million Indians with AI training through easily accessible digital courses.