Google to invest $15 million to support small, micro enterprises in India

The investment is part of the $75 million commitment from Google to help small businesses outside of the US.
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Google on Wednesday said it would give $15 million (nearly Rs 109 crore) to support small and micro enterprises in India in the face of Covid-19 pandemic.

The investment is part of the $75 million commitment from Google to help small businesses outside of the US.

"In India, we will invest $15 million to support small and micro enterprises across the country and are in discussions with local partners," the company said in a statement.

The company said it s working with non-government partners who have a long track record of providing resources to businesses that are generally overlooked by traditional lenders.

Google announced similar investments in various parts of the world. In Europe, it will partner with the European Investment Fund (EIF) and investing in two EIF funds — one for loan support to European small business and a second one in a Life Sciences Fund, a venture capital fund that will help support approximately 200 life sciences companies.

It also announced that it has established a $26 million loan initiative with Kiva, a non-profit that crowdfunds loans, and this will be for Africa, the Middle East and Indonesia. 

When the pandemic hit last year, Google announced a $200 million investment fund as part of its more than $800 million commitment to support small businesses.

"Google has had a special relationship with small businesses around the world – helping them scale, innovate and reach new customers. With today's announcement, we're proud to help them meet a new challenge — accessing capital needed to recover and build resiliency for the future," the tech giant said.

In July last year, the company's CEO Sundar Pichai announced a Google for India digitisation fund through which the company will invest Rs 75,000 crore or approximately $10 billion over the next five to seven years to help India go digital.

"We will do this through a mix of equity investment, partnerships and an operational infrastructure ecosystem in India. This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy," Pichai said during the ‘Google for India' virtual conference.

With IANS inputs

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