Electronics manufacturing to leveraging UPI: What Google CEO Sundar Pichai and PM Modi discussed

Google is planning to work on strengthening financial inclusion in India by leveraging UPI, CEO Sundar Pichai told Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. The Google CEO virtually interacted with PM Modi on Monday, the Prime Minister's Office said. During the interaction, Modi and Pichai discussed Google's plan to participate in expanding the electronics manufacturing ecosystem in India.

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The Prime Minister appreciated Google's partnership with HP to manufacture Chromebooks in India. Last month, HP announced a partnership with Google to manufacture Chromebooks - affordable PCs running Google’s Chromebook OS - in India. Chromebooks come with built-in accessibility and security features. 

During the call with Pichai today, Modi acknowledged Google's 100 languages initiative and encouraged efforts to make AI tools available in Indian languages. He also encouraged the tech giant to work on AI tools for good governance, the PMO said.

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The Prime Minister welcomed Google's plans to open its global fintech operations center at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) in Gandhinagar.

"Pichai informed the Prime Minister regarding Google's plans to improve financial inclusion in India by leveraging the strength and reach of GPay and UPI," the PMO said, adding that Pichai also emphasised the firm's commitment to contribute to the development trajectory of India.

The Prime Minister invited Google to contribute to the upcoming Global Partnership on AI Summit, which will be hosted by India in December 2023 in New Delhi.

In June this year, Pichai announced that Google would open its global fintech operation centre in Gujarat and invest $10 billion in India’s digitisation fund. He made this announcement after meeting Prime Minister Modi in Washington. 

"It was an honour to meet PM Modi during the historic visit to the US. We shared with the prime minister that Google is investing $10 billion in India's digitisation fund. We are announcing the opening of our global fintech operation centre in GIFT City, Gujarat," Pichai said.