Google has announced a slew of India-specific initiatives during the ongoing AI Summit in New Delhi.
The new announcements span infrastructure investment, government partnerships, skilling programs, and consumer product updates — signaling that India has become a central pillar of Google’s global AI strategy.
The centerpiece of Google’s infrastructure push is the America-India Connect initiative, a new strategic fiber-optic program designed to strengthen digital connectivity between the United States, India, and multiple locations across the Southern Hemisphere. This builds on Google’s previously announced $15 billion investment in AI infrastructure in India and complements its broader work laying subsea cables across the Pacific and Africa.
On the government side, Google is deploying serious capital. The company is launching a $30 million Google.org Global AI for Government Innovation Impact Challenge aimed at transforming public services through AI, and a separate $30 million AI for Science Impact Challenge to support researchers pursuing AI-driven scientific breakthroughs. The timing is pointed: new data cited by the company shows that while 74% of public servants globally are already using AI tools, only 18% believe their governments are deploying them effectively.
Google DeepMind is also formalizing a partnership with Indian government bodies and local institutions, providing access to its frontier AI for Science models and setting up innovation hubs powered by generative AI assistants. This forms part of a broader DeepMind initiative the company is calling National Partnerships for AI. In addition, Google is establishing a Center for Climate Technology in collaboration with the office of India’s Principal Scientific Advisor, focused on AI-powered climate solutions.
Workforce development is another major thread running through the announcements. Google unveiled an AI Professional Certificate program aimed at helping people around the world learn to use AI in the workplace, with scholarships distributed through nonprofits to widen access. In India specifically, the company is partnering with Wadhwani AI to bring the program to students and early-career professionals. Perhaps the most ambitious skilling deal is a landmark partnership with Karmayogi Bharat, the Indian government’s civil service development initiative. Google Cloud will provide the infrastructure for the iGOT Karmayogi platform, which already serves over 20 million public servants across more than 800 districts, with content being made available in 18-plus Indian languages.
The product announcements round out the picture. Google unveiled a live speech-to-speech translation model supporting over 70 languages, including 10 Indic languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, and Telugu. This will get it to complete directly with Indian-govt backed Sarvam, which launched similar products during the AI Summit. Search Live, the company’s real-time voice and camera search tool, is getting a model upgrade and will soon support Hindi among other languages. For Indian students specifically, Google has added JEE Main practice tests and self-study features to the Gemini app — a nod to the intensely competitive college entrance exam ecosystem in the country. Google also noted that India ranks among its top three markets globally for both Gemini and AI Mode in Search.
Taken together, the announcements reflect a strategic calculus that is hard to miss. India offers Google a vast, digitally-hungry population, a government actively seeking AI partnerships, and a growing pool of technical talent. For Google, deepening its footprint here isn’t just about market share — it’s about shaping how AI gets adopted across the developing world, at scale.