FPJ Edit: Google zeroes in on India

Google, the global tech-giant, investing $ 10 billion in India is big news, even if it is to be done over the next five-seven years. Its Indian CEO, Sundar Pichai, said on Monday at the company’s sixth ‘Google for India’ event that the investment would be ‘a mix of equity partnership, operational infrastructure and ecosystem investments.’ Google would partner CBSE to train a million teachers in the use of digital tools by the end of the year. Further, it would give grant to a private foundation which would train seven lakh teachers. It would also work with Prasar Bharti to help small businesses to digitise their daily operations. Coming in the current background of the on-going tension with China, and the expulsion of over 50 Chinese apps, the Google decision should spread cheer. Partnering a few official and unofficial agencies to take the digital revolution to the next level is a goal which in fact helps Google further gain ascendency in the fast growing internet market in the world. The deepening of the digitisation process of the Indian economy can be facilitated further by the cooperation of the omnibus internet search-engine. It may well have its own reasons to keep the government on its side, given its multi-faceted troubles in western economies and the ever challenging ecosystem in China. Google and YouTube are grown immensely popular in India. Both can partner the central and state governments in advancing education, healthcare, public awareness, etc. Google investment will prove beneficial for India as well as for the tech-giant.