Google recently announced a $10 billion investment in the Indian digital space to strengthen infrastructure over the next five to six years. The CEO said that they will look into the digital awareness among the Indian citizens, solve the different language problems, empower local businesses by building products for them and strengthen the artificial intelligence technology to help the citizens. According to a media report, Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated that he will invest the entire amount in various segments such as equity investment, partnership development, operational infrastructure improvement, and digital ecosystem development.
According to Google, there are 500 million internet users actively using the internet in India, and there are 450 million smartphone users. Following the increase in digital awareness among small traders and businesses, there are now 26 million traders with an online presence. That’s why global investors see India as a booming market with lots of opportunities. But it’s not enough to create a digital economy. Currently, millions of Indian users don’t have smartphones or the internet. So, Google’s aim is to make the internet affordable for millions of users with low-cost smartphones. Already, Google products like YouTube, Android, Gmail, etc., have millions of users.
Also, in this decade, Indian entrepreneurs are shining all over the world and building a lot of innovation to make India an innovation hub. Google is aiming to cater to that talent and support them to make India a digital economy. Google’s plan is to enable access to information that is available online in different languages, develop new products for India’s citizens’ needs, empower small businesses and make them available online, and lastly, develop AI to help in areas like health, agriculture, education, and rural development.
Google invested in R&D and office work, which has resulted in a significant increase in job opportunities. And with growing digitalization, it also focuses on the educational sector to strengthen online education infrastructure. And in this scenario under the Digital India initiative, Jaro Education, one of the leading EdTech institutions in India is creating milestones by providing high-quality online education. There are many reasons why digitization is important and how Google can help us are discussed below.
Enabling affordable accessibility:
India is a large and diverse market. markets are divided into many micro-makers with different languages, cultures, traditions, and incomes. That’s why companies should consider these differences before entering these micro markets. As per 2018 data, there are 530 million active internet users and they like to read content online in their own language. So, the language barrier is a big problem. Also, Google is working on solving the language problem of Indian language publishers. They introduced a platform to assist publishers in creating and editing content in their native language.
Creating new products for Indians:
Google has always wanted to create new technological products for the benefit of Indians in the future. They introduced a two-wheeler mode in Google Maps for better navigation for bikers. It provides many shortcut routes for two-wheelers and an estimated time of arrival at landmarks so that any biker can plan their journey before starting. For example, there are many products like YouTube, Google Pay, and Google Duo that provide many services to their customers.
Empowering businesses, agriculture, and the health sector:
Technology can now help small and large businesses across the country grow and expand. Business owners use technological tools to increase the efficiency of their businesses. The digital ecosystem is helping owners improve customer service and stay in touch with their various departments. Today, in the agriculture sector, we can develop machines with the help of technology to help the farmers and have a huge impact on their lives. Using advanced technology, farmers can produce more crops with low labor costs, and they can easily monitor their live stocks. In the health sector, engagement with patients and recording their medical history can be done easily with the help of technology.
Why is digitization important for India?
India’s role is important in digitization with the help of improving internet connections with larger penetration in the whole country, and with the help of a skilled workforce and the support of the Indian government. If we digitize our manufacturing unit, then we can improve our productivity, increase efficiency and prevent any damage. Also, digitization reduces the dependency on paperwork, and companies can easily operate their businesses online. In the future, technology-led businesses can create 60 million jobs alone, which is why digitization is the future for our country. Many factors, such as e-commerce businesses, artificial intelligence, blockchain development, and machine learning, are used to reduce costs and introduce new businesses with new models.
India is facing a difficult period due to the pandemic, and this investment will have a huge impact on our economy. India’s new generation has the capability to make India an innovation hub, and India can take advantage of this. However, there are various rumors related to online education in India such as Jaro Education fake news which is limiting the potential of digital revolutions in India.
