9th annual Google-For-India event

It was the 9th edition of Google for India this Thursday — 19th of October, 2023 at the capital city of New Delhi and it came with a couple of exciting things Google is working on for India! Here are the highlights —

1. Pixel goes local — With the ever-growing demand for pixel phones, Google has finally decided to team up with foreign and domestic manufacturers to build the phone locally. A possible rollout is expected to start in 2024. Pixel phones are a marvel of software expertise. And who else but the biggest software company to work on bettering it? By the way, the Pixel 8’s are doing their rounds as we speak.
2. SGE (Search Generative Experience) — Most of you might have already encountered this, but Google has finally started rolling out its AI-based results as the top result when you search for anything on Google. If you are missing out, do check out the Labs section on Chrome. The real power is yet to be revealed but so far it can provide you with more relevant results, give you suggestions for better follow-ups, get you relevant product reviews, and so on.
3. GPay Loans — Yes Google is now entering the finance space by partnering up with Indian banks like Axis to provide a pre-approved credit line for users. This essentially means you can now get a loan from Gpay. Again it’s tied to your CIBIL score. So if you can’t see a loan option (usually next to Check CIBIL), check the CIBIL score once. You can get a loan of 10,000 to 8,00,000 with interest rates starting from 15% and tenure can be from 6 to 36 months.
4. “a” super app — Google is teaming up with Axis My India to develop a super app that will allow easy access to information on all the government welfare, healthcare, jobs, etc schemes. A much-needed app since the current process involves information segmented on different websites. The app will also have generative AI so will be able to personalise things as per the user’s interactions.
5. ONDC partnership — Yet another milestone, Google is collaborating with ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) to help Farmer Producer Organisations sell their produce online easily. Businesses registered with ONDC will now be integrated into Google Maps which will give customers a better view of the inventories. It also mentioned that users will be able to book metro tickets via the ONDC network on similar lines to how WhatsApp has introduced metro bookings and payments for Bangalore.
6. NPCI partnership — Another exciting venture to make online foreign payments via UPI seamless.
7. Google Merchant Center — The GMC is a one-stop solution for SMEs to list their products online for free. This year Google has announced more features for SMEs like creating quality catalogs and more analytics on how their business is performing.
8. Digikavach — An early fraud detection system that will help identify malicious apps on the Play Store and other financial scams. Google mentioned how it had prevented around 12,000 crore worth of scams and 1 lakh suspicious transactions last year. They will be collaborating with FACE (Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment) to identify these malicious activities.

In short, it has been a great year and drives more hope for the upcoming years due to the awesome work that Google is doing with the Indian organizations.