{"id":"f-73cd9b4b27-c4864084-084f-5b80-9ed4-1259ef9d3321","title":"Google backs India AI push with $400,000 health funding and $8m research aid","description":"Google has announced more than $12 million in AI funding for India, spanning healthcare models, IIT research centres, language technology, and agriculture tools. The plans were shared at a Google impact event linked to the India AI Impact Summit 2026. The focus remains on public infrastructure and large-scale use cases.","timestamp":1765876692,"category":"technology","headline":"Google backs India AI push with $400,000 health funding and $8m research aid","modifiedHeadline":"Google Invests Millions in India AI Research","subCategories":["scid_b7e786a9"],"region":"IN","bundleMetaData":{"bundleId":"c35cfc57-1bba-4539-a24c-695ea99ac023","bundleTitle":"Mastering AI","cardData":null},"iabCategoryId":"597","fcSummary":"Google announced a broad set of AI commitments for India, focusing on healthcare, research, language technology, agriculture, and clean energy. They will fund collaborations, support AI research centers, and promote Indic language solutions with funding and open models.","summary":"Google pledges over $12M in AI funding for India, targeting healthcare, research, and agriculture, aiming for large-scale public impact.","ctaUrl":"https://trends.glance.com/newz/astrology/IN/en/news9/f-73cd9b4b27-c4864084-084f-5b80-9ed4-1259ef9d3321","sourceUrl":"https://www.news9live.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/google-india-ai-400k-health-8m-research-2912352","bannerImage":"https://g-mob.glance-cdn.com/public/fc/image/VwYTR3uOOvG0.webp","content":"

New Delhi: Google has laid out a broad set of AI-related commitments for India, touching healthcare, research, language technology, agriculture, and clean

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energy. The announcements were made at the “Lab to Impact: Google on Health, Science and Society” dialogue, held alongside the India AI Impact Summit 2026. The company positioned these moves as part of its ongoing engagement with India’s digital and AI ecosystem, with a clear focus on public infrastructure and large-scale social use cases.

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From health records and farmer advisories to Indic languages and solar power, the plan spans many layers. As someone who has tracked India’s AI story for years, this feels like Google putting multiple existing threads together in one place, rather than unveiling a single headline-grabbing product. Still, the scale and spread of what was announced make it worth a closer look.

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AI moves into India’s health infrastructure

A major part of Google’s announcement focused on healthcare and Digital Public Infrastructure. The company said it will fund new collaborations worth $400,000 to use MedGemma for building India-specific health foundation models. The goal, according to Google, is to support healthcare providers and patient outcomes across the country.

As a first step, Ajna Lens will work with doctors from AIIMS to build models for dermatology and OPD triaging. Google said the outputs from this work will feed into India’s digital health infrastructure and be made available to the wider ecosystem. Researchers and clinicians from IISc will also explore AI models for broader clinical use cases.

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Google is also working with the National Health Authority to convert unstructured medical records, such as doctors’ notes, into the FHIR standard. The company said this could help patients understand their records better and reduce paperwork at hospitals, while also supporting data-driven health policy.

Mapping health facilities and fixing fragmented data

Another practical step involves discovery and access. Google said it is working with the National Health Authority to bring over 400,000 registered health facilities onto Google Maps and Search. These include hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic labs, with official and updated information.

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I have personally struggled to find reliable information about nearby clinics while travelling in smaller towns. If done right, this could reduce confusion for patients, though execution will matter more than announcements.

Funding India’s AI research centres

On the research side, Google said it is committing $8 million through Google.org to four AI Centres of Excellence set up by the Government of India. These centres focus on non-communicable diseases, urban governance, education, and agriculture, and are based at IISc Bengaluru, IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras, and IIT Ropar.

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Google also announced a $2 million founding contribution to create an Indic Language Technologies Research Hub at IIT Bombay, set up in memory of Professor Pushpak Bhattacharyya. The hub aims to support India’s linguistic diversity as AI systems evolve.

Startups, open models, and local languages

Google said Indian startups are already using its open Gemma models to build Indic language solutions. It announced $50,000 in funding each for Gnani.AI and CoRover.AI to support their work on voice AI and e-governance models. IIT Bombay is also receiving $50,000 to use Gemma for processing health governance documents and building an India-centric trait database.

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The company added that all 22 Gemma models have been uploaded to AIKosh, the India AI Mission’s open platform, to widen access for developers building local models.

AI for frontline workers, farmers, and clean energy

Google highlighted work with nonprofits and public bodies as well. It said Khushi Baby has conducted over 35 million TB screenings in Rajasthan using tools built on the Open Health Stack. It also cited research estimating that AI tools could enable ASHA workers to deliver 98 million additional rural visits each year, and save around ₹390 billion annually in public healthcare costs.

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Further, Google.org is providing $2.5 million to Wadhwani AI for HealthVaani, and $2 million for Garuda, an Indian language model for agriculture that will power the AgriVaani app.

On sustainability, Google announced a partnership with ReNew Energy to support a 150 MW solar project in Rajasthan, adding to earlier wind and solar projects with Indian partners. The company said this is part of addressing the energy footprint linked to AI infrastructure.

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Google backs India AI push with $400,000 health funding and $8m research aid

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