google for india technology event 2023 new features announced google pay maps play store generative AI search small business youtube content creators tanmay bhat ankush bahuguna srishti garg ankita sahigal kullu ondc ncpi axis my bank super-app "a" google cloud
The 9th edition of the tech giant’s annual flagship event, “Google For India,” took place on Thursday, October 19, 2023, in New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan where the company announced a slew of new products and services designed to help India achieve its digital transformation goals. The company introduced new efforts aimed at enhancing core products for the country and collaborating with leading Indian companies in areas such as banking, finance, and cyber safety.
Google revealed plans to improve access and bring in affordable data services throughout the country. Additionally, they also plan to manufacture Pixel smartphones in India, highlighting the country’s importance as a priority market. The company aims to bring its top-tier hardware and software capabilities to a broader Indian audience. Google said that its teams have been working on internet experiences to meet the diversity of India’s local languages.
Google did an extensive social media campaign following this event too. In order to highlight a number of new features that are dropping soon, the company collaborated with various content creators like Tanmay Bhat, Ankush Bahuguna, Srishti Garg, Ankita Sahigal, and Kullu.
Let’s take you through the key highlights of the 9th edition of the flagship event in the country:
Google has received a great response regarding the Pixel smartphones in India ever since its launch on October 4. The company announced its plan to start manufacturing them in India starting with the Pixel 8. The ‘made in India’ phones are expected to be available in 2024. The event was attended by Ashwini Vaishnaw who said, “Just about 9 years back, mobile manufacturing was practically non-existent. Almost 98% of the mobile phones we used were imported. It is a significant achievement that Google has today announced the manufacturing of Pixel phones in India.”
Google said that with AI, “Search” will be more visual and will provide local experiences. For example, it will soon enable easy access to AI-powered overviews for over 100 crucial government programs and schemes around employment, housing, healthcare, farming, women’s welfare, and more. The company said that it is improving user experiences through the application of AI. This includes incorporating images, videos, and user reviews while reimagining the capabilities of search engines to better serve the information needs of users of the country.
The tech giant said it will roll out Search features to help with the online visibility of small businesses in Search results with a more visual, relevant, and easily filterable product feed. Businesses with resource constraints will now be able to use generative AI to create high-quality catalogues of their products and deliver a richer shopping experience to customers.
Google Cloud and Axis My India have teamed up to make a multilingual super-app called “a.” It aims to make government social welfare programs, daily services, jobs, and healthcare benefits more accessible. “a” uses Google Cloud’s Generative AI to provide personalised government info in real-time for users in both rural and urban areas. Additionally, Google Cloud is working with ONDC to boost online sales for Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and increase their revenue with Generative AI.
Google Pay is collaborating with financial institutions, including banks and NBFCs, to create financial products aimed at bridging the credit gap in India. These products are underwritten by regulatory-approved financial institutions and are made accessible to users through the Google Pay platform. This initiative forms the basis of Google Pay’s Digital Pragati program, which seeks to provide formal credit access to millions of eligible but underserved Indians.
Under this initiative, Google will work with industry partners and experts to share insights and combat online financial fraud. It involves studying fraudulent methods, developing countermeasures against emerging scams, and malware, and collaborating with experts and partners to create a secure online environment. The program aims to study how scammers operate and work to develop countermeasures to new emerging scams. This includes support from The Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE) to combat predatory digital lending apps on the Play Store in India.
The company is actively partnering with Indian government initiatives and local businesses to support India’s digital transformation. This includes collaborating with Bhashini to establish a Center of Excellence on Generative AI and Language Inclusivity, that equips professionals and students with generative AI knowledge and skills.
With Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Google will help Farmer Producer Organizations to sell their produce online more efficiently. Furthemore, a collaboration with the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will facilitate real-time payment systems via UPI for easier overseas payments.
Moreover, Google Cloud and ONDC have joined forces to facilitate seamless onboarding of FPOs onto the ONDC Network, enabling them to sell produce online. Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, is providing grants to organizations that leverage AI and technology to enhance agricultural outcomes and combat misinformation.
As a part of the collaboration with ONDC, users will soon be able to book metro tickets on the Google Maps app. The feature will be rolled out in the next few months.
Google announced the Watch Page for News on YouTube that will enable users to access videos, live streams, podcasts, and Shorts from credible news sources. It will roll out in India across 11 languages in Q4 2023.
The company also announced that it is upgrading Google Play Protect, its solution that keeps users’ data private by checking apps on Android smartphones for harmful behaviour. Google said that the upgraded Play Protect will now check apps on the code level, and this capability will be first rolled out in India.
Google announced that underserved but eligible Google Pay Indians will now be able to easily find and make payments for pre-approved credit lines from banks. It also announced that India’s Small Businesses will now have access to formal credit “with more flexibility and convenience to meet their working capital needs.”
Google has really gone above and beyond to cater to the people’s needs in today’s world. Generative AI has been a life-changing technological development that the tech giant has now adopted. We look forward to experiencing all of the abovementioned features real soon!
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