New Google AI initiatives aim to accelerate growth of India’s AI ecosystem

US-based technology giant Google on Tuesday announced a series of artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives for developers, startups, enterprises and educational institutions in India.

At the Google I/O Connect India 2026 summit here, the company unveiled new AI education programmes, healthcare collaborations, cybersecurity initiatives and expanded infrastructure for Indian enterprises using its AI models.

Google also said its Google Play Store and Android ecosystem generated an estimated Rs 5.3 lakh crore (around $60 billion) in revenue for app publishers and the wider economy in India in 2025, up 28 per cent from the previous year.

Addressing the event, Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said Google has played a key role in expanding internet access and digital services in India through products such as Search, Android, YouTube, Maps and Google Pay.

"Google transformed how students learn, how businesses grow, how governments deliver services and how billions of people access knowledge every single day. That is an extraordinary contribution all of you have made," he said.

Among the key announcements, Google DeepMind launched its AI Research Foundations curriculum, a free 56-hour programme aimed at training learners to build and fine-tune large language models.

The programme will be rolled out in partnership with NASSCOM, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, and other institutions.

"India's builders are already deploying AI faster than almost anywhere else. As we drive the shift into the agentic era, our focus is on providing the infrastructure and guardrails the ecosystem needs to scale safely," said Preeti Lobana, Country Manager, Google India.

Google also introduced ATL Saathi, a Gemini-powered assistant for teachers under the Atal Innovation Mission, with an initial rollout across 100 schools.

In healthcare, the company said researchers at AIIMS Delhi are using its MedGemma open AI models to develop India-specific tools for leprosy and sexual and reproductive health, with the resulting models to be made available to the country's developer ecosystem.

Google also announced that Gemini Live now supports 25 Indian languages and dialects, including Sanskrit, Bhojpuri and Maithili.