According to Bloomberg, Google announced that it will invest $10 billion over the next five to seven years. It will build up India’s digital economy.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the plan himself after a video conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Google is planning to invest its shares by creating a “India Digitalization Fund”. It creates cooperative relationships, and build digital infrastructure and ecosystems. Pichai stressed that the investment “reflects confidence in the future of India and India’s digital economy”. In addition, Google said it will invest in artificial intelligence and digital education in India.
Apart from Google, other IT companies are also investing on India
Not only Google but also U.S. IT companies have recently been actively investing in India. Qualcomm announced on the 12th that it will invest $97 million in JIO, a telecommunication company under Indian conglomerate Liliion. And Intel also announced earlier this month that it will invest $253.5 million in Gio. Facebook also invested $5.7 billion in Gio in March. Amazon is also active in investing in India. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos visited India in January for the first time in six years and said he would expand investment there.
In particular, as India and China have recently been at odds on their border, there is a move to oust Chinese companies in India. Which is likely to open up greater opportunities for U.S. IT companies. India banned the use of 59 Chinese smartphone apps, including TikTok, in late June. India is an important market for TikTok, with about 120 million users in India accounting for about 10 percent of the world’s users (about 1.2 billion).
The Nikkei Asian Review analyzed, “The Chinese government’s regulations and the friction between the U.S. and China seem to be accelerating the U.S. IT companies to tap into the Indian market instead of China.”
