Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said Covid-19 pandemic has forced the company to rethink its strategy. AFP
Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said Covid-19 pandemic has forced the company to rethink its strategy. AFP
Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said Covid-19 pandemic has forced the company to rethink its strategy. AFP
Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said Covid-19 pandemic has forced the company to rethink its strategy. AFP

Google to invest $10bn in India to accelerate digital economy


Alkesh Sharma
  • English
  • Arabic

Google will invest $10 billion (Dh36.7bn) in India to help the South Asian country accelerate the development of its digital economy, the company’s chief executive Sundar Pichai said on Monday.

The Google for India Digitisation Fund will see the Alphabet-owned company invest the sum over the next five to seven years.

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

“Today, people in India no longer have to wait for technology … a whole new generation of technologies are happening in India first.”

The California-based company said the investment will be made through a mix of equity investments and partnerships, as well as operational, infrastructure and ecosystem upgrades. It will focus on four areas crucial to India’s digitisation journey.

These include enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their own local language, building new products and services relevant to local needs, empowering businesses and leveraging technology and artificial intelligence in areas for social good such as health, education and agriculture.

Mr Pichai, who was born and educated in India, said there is a huge scope for digital growth in India, which is home to more than 1.3 billion population.

“Just four years ago, only one-third of all small businesses had an online presence … today, 26 million SMBs are now discoverable on Search and Maps, driving connections with more than 150 million users every month.”

Low-cost smartphones, affordable internet data and a large telecoms infrastructure have paved the way for new opportunities, he added.

Mr Pichai said the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the company to rethink “how we work and how we live”.

“There’s no question we are facing a difficult moment today … but times of challenge can lead to incredible moments of innovation. Our goal is to ensure India not only benefits from the next wave of innovation, but leads it,” he said.

Google, like other technology giants, is eyeing a share of India's booming internet market. The country has more than 500 million internet users and more than 450 million active smartphone users, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India.

Such massive potential has led Google's rivals Facebook and Amazon to plough billions into the country's internet economy. Facebook invested $5.7bn in Reliance's Jio Platforms in April while Amazon committed to invest $1bn in India in January.

Google, which launched in India in 2004, has also successfully rolled out several of its services like Google Pay and literacy programme Internet Sathi in the country.

The search engine giant's investment comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India initiative looks to promote adoption of digital services across the country.

Mr Pichai said on Monday that Google continues to see a massive opportunity in India for innovation.

"There’s still more work to do in order to make the internet affordable and useful for a billion Indians … from improving voice input and computing for all of India’s languages, to inspiring and supporting a whole new generation of entrepreneurs," he said.

Notable Yas events in 2017/18

October 13-14 KartZone (complimentary trials)

December 14-16 The Gulf 12 Hours Endurance race

March 5 Yas Marina Circuit Karting Enduro event

March 8-9 UAE Rotax Max Challenge

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

Meydan racecard:

6.30pm: Handicap | US$135,000 (Dirt) | 1,400 metres

7.05pm: Handicap | $135,000 (Turf) | 1,200m

7.40pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes | Group 3 | $200,000 (T) | 2,000m

8.15pm: UAE Oaks | Group 3 | $250,000 (D) | 1,900m

8.50pm: Zabeel Mile | Group 2 | $250,000 (T) | 1,600m

9.20pm: Handicap | $135,000 (T) | 1,600m

MATCH INFO

CAF Champions League semi-finals first-leg fixtures

Tuesday:

Primeiro Agosto (ANG) v Esperance (TUN) (8pm UAE)
Al Ahly (EGY) v Entente Setif (ALG) (11PM)

Second legs:

October 23

About Takalam

Date started: early 2020

Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: HealthTech and wellness

Number of staff: 4

Funding to date: Bootstrapped

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

The%20Last%20White%20Man
%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20Mohsin%20Hamid%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E192%20pages%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPublished%20by%3A%20Hamish%20Hamilton%20(UK)%2C%20Riverhead%20Books%20(US)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERelease%20date%3A%20out%20now%20in%20the%20US%2C%20August%2011%20(UK)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A