Google, in its fifth annual ‘Google For India’ event on Thursday, announced a series of new plans for its Indian market. The company announced that it will setup an AI lab in Bengaluru which will focus on applying AI research to solve problems in healthcare, agriculture & education. Google has become the second international IT firm in India after Microsoft to open an AI lab.

Manuel Bronstein, VP, Product Management, Google said “Hindi has become the second-largest language in India. And we have been getting a good response, hence we have planned to extend the language base.” 

The Silicon Valley-based company also expanded Indian language support on Google Assistant, Discover, Lens & Bolo. Google Assistant is now available in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam & Urdu. The users can now interact with Google Assistant in their local language. 

The company also decked up its payments app, Google Pay. Google has launched G Pay for businesses in which the merchant can get on the platform without any physical intervention by just doing a video call with G Pay. Ambarish Kenghe, director, Product Management, Google Pay told DNA “There is a sharp rise in the number of users on G Pay. Two third of the demand is coming from Tier 2 & 3 towns. Hence we planned to extend this service.”

G Pay will also have a refreshed jobs feature for entry-level jobs in which students associated with Skill India will get preference. Caesar Sen Gupta, VP, Payments told DNA “Initially we are starting this feature with 24 companies which will soon be extended to more sectors & partners. We firmly stand by with Government’s Digital India & Skill India initiative & will make more announcements in this space.”

Zee Media Newsroom