Google has revealed plans to manufacture Pixel smartphones in India, prompting Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to urge the company to produce its Tensor chipset within the country within three years. Vaishnaw, the communications and IT minister, also encouraged Google to introduce premium Pixel Fold devices in India as soon as possible. The Tensor G3 chipset boasts the latest ARM central processing units, an enhanced Graphics processing unit (GPU), and a next-gen Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) to support Google's artificial intelligence (AI) models. However, the supply of GPUs and application-specific chips for AI technologies is currently limited due to substantial orders from US and China-based entities.

Vaishnaw informed reporters at the Google for India event that he has urged Google to establish a fabrication facility for Tensor in India within the next three years. He emphasised the strength of India's manufacturing ecosystem and asked Google to further support and deepen it. Google Senior Vice President for Devices and Services, Rick Osterloh, announced the company's plans to manufacture the Pixel series of smartphones in India, starting with Pixel 8, with a target of releasing India-made devices in 2024. Google intends to collaborate with both international and domestic manufacturers for this initiative.

Additionally, at the event, Google Pay introduced a credit facility in partnership with banks and NBFCs, providing loans starting from Rs 15,000. Google Pay Vice President Ambarish Kenghe highlighted that all credit offerings would prioritise data privacy, consent, control, and security. Vaishnaw predicted that digital credit would revolutionise the credit market by October 2025, enhancing competition and potentially lowering interest rates.

To overcome language and regional barriers in the digital economy, Google India Country head and Vice President Sanjay Gupta revealed plans to use Generative AI across products. Google also launched DigiKavach, an early threat detection and warning system designed to identify emerging financial fraud patterns and implement effective countermeasures promptly.

Furthermore, Google Cloud Managing Director Bikram Singh Bedi shared the company's expanded partnership with the government-backed ONDC platform, enabling Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) to sell their produce online. Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm, announced grants totalling over $7 million to support initiatives combatting misinformation and deploying AI for agriculture improvement in India. These grants included $4 million to the cybersecurity advocacy organisation CyberPeace Foundation for online safety and digital literacy and $3.3 million to Wadhwani AI to apply AI-powered pest management technology to staple food crops across the country in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoAFW).

Source: Business Standard