Washington: Multinational technology company Google will set up its global fintech operations center at Gujarat International Finance Tech (GIFT) City in Gujarat. This announcement was made by Google Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Friday. Pichai also said that his company would continue to invest in India through the US$10 billion India Digitization Fund. Modi was on a visit to the US at the invitation of US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden. Apart from Pichai, the Prime Minister also met several other CEOs including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Apple CEO Tim Cook, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and AMD CEO Lisa Su.
Pichai said, ‘Today we are announcing the opening of our Global Fintech Operations Center in GIFT City, Gujarat. This will strengthen India’s fintech leadership, in which UPI and Aadhaar have a key role to play. We will build on that foundation and take it globally.” The Indian-origin CEO said it is exciting to see the progress the country has made, especially in the area of Digital India and economic opportunity.
Pichai said, ‘I met the Prime Minister in December and we continued our conversation. We shared that Google is investing US$10 billion in India’s Digitization Fund and we continue to invest through this, including in companies working on artificial intelligence (AI). Under that is our 100-languages initiative. We are bringing ‘Boat’ in more Indian languages very soon.” He said the Prime Minister’s vision for Digital India is ahead of its time. Pichai said, “Now I see it as a blueprint that other countries are trying to follow.”
In a tweet, the Ministry of External Affairs said that Prime Minister Modi invited Pichai to explore further avenues of cooperation in the areas of artificial intelligence, fintech and cyber security products and services as well as mobile device manufacturing in India. The ministry said the Prime Minister and Pichai also discussed collaboration between Google and academic institutions in India to promote research and development and skill development. In July 2020, Google announced plans to invest US$10 billion in India over the next five to seven years.
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