Google has announced its plans to invest $10bn in India in the coming years, including in infrastructure and equity investments, as Silicon Valley companies jostle for a position in one of the world’s fastest-growing internet markets. Sundar Pichai, chief executive at Google and its parent company Alphabet, announced the scheme after speaking with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 13, 2020. Mr Modi described the conversation as “extremely fruitful”, discussing new working practices during the coronavirus pandemic as well as security and safety online. “This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy,” Mr Pichai said at an online Google’s Annual event showcasing its business in India. One of its most successful services launched in India has been its digital payment app, Google Pay. It was designed for the less affluent Indian consumer and has been downloaded more than 180 million times and used to transfer billions of dollars.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, travelled to the country earlier this year to promise $1bn in investment, and to support $10bn of Indian export sales over the next five years. Amazon is also investing $5 billion to expand its India operations.

In April, Facebook announced a $5.7 billion tie-up with an Indian mobile leader in hopes of tapping into the country’s vast potential, particularly in e-commerce

Apple has stepped up its iPhone manufacturing in the country through its supplier Foxconn.

Walmart bought India’s biggest homegrown e-commerce firm, Flipkart, for $16 billion in 2018.

The increased interest in India from Google and other US-based investors comes as tension on the Indian-Chinese border closes avenues for investors from China.

India, with its 1.3bn population, represents one of the biggest opportunities for tech companies globally after hundreds of millions of Indians started using smartphones and accessing the internet in recent years.

Following are the figures (April-July 2020) of recent investments by global giants which demonstrate that India presents enormous investment opportunities for the global market:

Company –Google

Investment Amount –10 billion dollars.

Company –Walmart

Investment Amount –1.2 billion dollars.

Company –Foxconn (Apple Inc. Supplier)

Investment Amount –1 billion dollars.

Company –Facebook

Investment Amount – The world’s largest social media company invests 5.7 billion dollars in India’s Reliance Jio Platforms. It is Facebook’s biggest single investment in another company.

Company –Qualcomm Ventures

Investment Amount –97 million dollars.

Company –Thomson

Investment Amount –142.8 million dollars.

Company –We Work Global

Investment Amount –100 million dollars.

Company –Hitachi

Investment Amount –15.9 million dollars.

Company –Kia Motors

Investment Amount –54 million dollars.

Company –Saudi Arabia’s PIF

Investment Amount –1.6 billion dollars.

Company –Hyundai Mobis

Investment –Hyundai Mobis expands its technical centre in India to strengthen software development of future vehicles. Through this expansion, the company aims to strengthen its R&D activities in India, particularly software development for autonomous vehicles.

Company – SGS

Investment – SGS is Amazon’s trusted partner in quality packaging and is one of the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. The company opens its first accreditation testing lab in India along with labs in other parts of the world which are Cestas in Bordeaux, France and Appleton in the US.

Company –Axtria

Investment –Axtria, a global leader in cloud software and data analytics for the life sciences commercial business, further expands its presence in India and opens its first delivery centre in south India. The big data analytics and cloud software giant is creating new employment opportunities to meet increasing market demand in India.

Company –f5

Investment – f5, a company providing solutions to App based platforms, opens its first centre in India. After successful launches in Sydney, Australia, and Hong Kong, it opens its first centre in India.

Company –Tsuzuki

Investment – Tsuzuki one of the leading Japanese electronics company, opens a brand-new plant at Reliance’s Model Economic Township in Jhajjar, Haryana, India.

Company – Samsung

Investment –The South Korean giant now has started manufacturing their entire range of 18 smartwatches in India. The company which has its largest smartphone manufacturing facility in Noida, has also launched a new 4G-enabled smartwatch that will be manufactured locally.

Outlook for Afghanistan

The emergence of India as a global investment destination and excellence in the field of IT and IT enabled services provides unlimited opportunities for Afghanistan considering that India has been playing a pivotal role in assisting various developmental and enabling projects, various training programmes, educational scholarships/opportunities for Afghan students, domain experts and executives offered by India can be aligned and synergised to learn from their path-breaking developmental saga to achieve our own multifaceted progress.

By: General Consulate of India, Mazar -e-Sharif