Day 4: Google, and Amazon to invest $25 bn in India
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Search engine behemoth Google will invest USD 10 billion in India’s digitization fund, while e-commerce giant Amazon plans to invest another USD 15 billion in the country, the media reported on Saturday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s interaction with the CEOs of global companies.
Announcing fresh investments, Google’s CEO Sunder Pichai said his company will also open a global fintech operation center at Gujarat International Fin-Tech (GIFT) City near Gandhinagar.
Amazon’s President and CEO Andrew R. Jassy said with the fresh investments of USD 15 billion, his firm’s total investments in the country will rise to USD 26 billion,
The investments decisions were announced after the Indian-origin CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet, and Jassy met PM Modi on Friday in Washington during the latter’s State Visit.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the PM invited Pichai to explore more avenues of collaboration in the domains of Artificial Intelligence (AI), fin-tech, cybersecurity products and services, and manufacturing of mobile devices in India.
“They also discussed collaboration between Google and academic institutions in India to promote R&D and skill development,” the MEA said.
After the meeting, Pichai told reporters, “We shared with the Prime Minister that Google is investing USD 10 billion in India’s digitization fund…. We are announcing the opening up of our global fintech operation center in GIFT city, Gujarat.”
“The PM’s vision for Digital India was way ahead of its time. I now see a blueprint that other countries are looking to do,” he added.
The Alphabet boss added that he was looking forward to India’s progress with the additional USD 10 billion. These include building a single, unified AI model capable of handling more than 100 Indian languages across speech and text (a part of Google’s global efforts to bring the world’s 1,000 most-spoken languages online and to help people access knowledge and information in their preferred language) and support a new multidisciplinary center for responsible AI with IIT Madras, among others.
PM Modi’s discussions with Jassy centered around e-commerce and the promotion of digitization of MSMEs in India. “They also discussed the potential of further collaboration with Amazon in the logistics sector in India,” the MEA said.
After the meeting, Jassy said, “I had a very good and productive conversation with Prime Minister Modi. I think we share a number of goals. Amazon is one of the biggest investors in India. We have invested USD 11 billion to date and intend to invest another USD 15 billion.”
Amazon was interested in helping create more jobs, digitizing more small and medium-sized businesses, and helping more Indian companies and products to be exported worldwide, he said.
In addition, PM Modi interacted with a large number of members of the Indian Diaspora at the Ronald Reagan Centre in Washington DC, inviting them to contribute to India’s “growth during Amrit Kaal”.
“The Prime Minister also thanked them for playing a significant role in strengthening the India-USA ties, and highlighted future areas of bilateral partnership,” the MEA said.
Besides, PM Modi addressed a gathering of professionals at the John F. Kennedy Centre in Washington DC. The US – India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) organized the event. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also present.
Stressing that “This is the moment”, the Prime Minister invited professionals to forge partnerships with India.
