Google announces $10bn investment in ‘digital India’

Google announces $10bn investment in ‘digital India’

Google will invest $10bn (£7.93bn) in India in the next five to seven years, the chief executive of its parent company Alphabet Inc has announced.

Sundar Pichai spoke at the annual Google for India event, held online.

The investment will be used to build products and services for India, help businesses go digital and use technology "for social good".

"This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy," Mr Pichai said.

With more than 500 million active internet users in the country, India is perhaps the biggest potential growth market for Google.

The investment will be made through the Google for India Digitisation Fund

Mr Pichai said the fund would focus on four areas to scale up digital infrastructure in India. It would:

enable "affordable access and information for every Indian in their own language""build new products and services that are deeply relevant to India's unique needs"empower local businesses who want to go digital "leverage technology and AI [artificial intelligence] ]for social good" in sectors like health, education and agriculture

Mr Pichai also touted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India project which aims to overhaul the country's digital infrastructure.

Mr Modi tweeted to say that he and Mr Pichai had discussed "leveraging