Google to develop more products out of India, says Sundar Pichai

Pune: Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company remained committed to building products in India, and that the $10 billion Google for India Digitization Fund was a sign of the company’s confidence in the future of India.Pichai was addressing analysts at a post earnings call on Tuesday after the company announced its results for 2021. “It’s a reflection of our confidence in the future of India, its digital economy, our desire to build products there, which we think will help us globally,” said Pichai.

Responding to a question on whether one should look overseas to think about what direction Google was likely to take with its products and services, he said that trend would continue. “It’s informed our payment strategy globally. In general, we are trying to think deeper about these newer markets, both -- it really lines up with our mission of building a more equitable Internet for everyone,” said Pichai.

Google launched its payments service Tez in India, which it later renamed Google Pay and launched in other countries.

For other businesses like YouTube, Google was using its user base in India to test some of the commerce ideas. “You may see us first stride in India first because we can get quicker feedback, very dynamic youthful population. And so we’ll do it there and then roll it out globally. So we are constantly looking for opportunities like that,” he said.

Last week, Google announced a $1 billion investment in telecom company Airtel. Last year, the company had announced the $10 billion Google for India Digitization Fund and had invested $4.5 billion in Reliance Jio Platforms.

Over the last few years, Google has increased its focus on developing and creating products for India which it then takes to other global markets. In 2017, Google had launched Google Files Go, a file manager app, for its users in India, which it later expanded to other countries. Similarly, the offline feature for Google Maps was first tested in India.

At part of the overall strategy, Pichai said, “In 2022, we'll stay focused on evolving our knowledge and information products, including Search, Maps and YouTube, to be even more helpful. Investments in AI will be key, and we'll continue to make improvements to conversational interfaces like the Assistant.”