Google on Monday said that, it will spend around $10 billion in India, during next five to seven years through equity investment and various tie-up, which marks its biggest commitment to a very key market.
According to the company, it will invest through a digitization fund, highlighting Google’s focus on the rapid pace of apps and software platforms in India, which is also one of the biggest internet markets across the planet.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, said on a webcast during the annual “Google for India” event, “We’ll do this through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments.”
He also added, “This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy.”
Already Google has made direct and indirect investments in various Indian start-ups including Dunzo.
Pichai also told that Google would also focus on areas including AI and education in India. Indian born Sundar Pichai joined Google back in 2004, and he is widely credited for the Chrome browser. Last year he replaced the Co-founder Larry Page as the CEO of Alphabet Inc, which is the parent company of Google.
India’s technology minister Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad said at the event, “Sundar Pichai, who is heading Google, is a very powerful symbol of the creative potential of India’s human resource.”
Google’s Android mobile operating system already powers a chunk of India’s 500 million smartphones, and the company will continue to work with manufacturers, in order to build low-cost devices that can help more people to access the internet.
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