Google on Thursday hosted its annual 'Google for India' event in New Delhi. During its keynote, Google made a number of announcements related to Assistant, AI, Google Pay and more.

Google for India 2019

Here's everything Google announced during the Google for India 2019:

Google Research India

Google Research India will set up its new AI research lab in Bengaluru. Google has two key focus areas here: Build AI community across the country and help solve problems in fields such as healthcare, agriculture and education.

Spot Platform

Powered by Google Pay, Spot enables brands to up their digital game. Spot provides businesses with digital infrastructure so that Google Pay users can quickly do their payments without installing separate apps. Brands can set themselves up on Spot and simplify the way they deal with customers.

Google Spot to allow Indian businesses to up their digital game

Partnership with BSNL

Google announced its partnership with BSNL, state-owned telecom company, to offer high-speed public WiFi to remote areas and villages in Gujarat, Bihar and Maharashtra.

Google Assistant phone line

Google announced its partnership with Vodafone-Idea to set up a new, dedicated phone line powered by Assistant. Vodafone-Idea users can dial a toll-free a number 000 800 9191000 and ask Assistant for help - without requiring internet connectivity.

Google Discover update

Google Discover is adding support for more Indian languages like Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada and Malayalam. Google will add more languages like Oriya, Urdu and Punjabi in the future. Google Discover is automated, customised news feed.

Google Lens update

Google Lens now understands three new Indian languages: Tamil, Telugu and Marathi. Google Lens allows users to translate text by pointing their phone’s camera at banners, documents and more.

Bolo update

Google Bolo is adding support for more Indian languages like Bangla, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. It also announced a partnership with publishers like Chotta Bheem and Katha Kids as part of its content expansion plans. Bolo is a speech-based app to help children learn how to read.

Tokenized cards

Up until now, Google Pay was limited to UPI-based transactions. The Google Pay app announced support for card-based transactions using 'Tokenized cards' feature. It will roll out in the next few weeks starting with Visa cards for HDFC, Axis, Kotak and Standard Chartered banks.

Google Pay for Business

Google announced Google Pay for Business for small and medium-sized businesses. This way, Merchants can quickly enable digital payments without requiring onboarding and verification process which is often time-consuming.

Jobs Spot on Google Pay

Google's new Jobs Spot on Google Pay focuses on entry-level jobs that are not easily discoverable on the internet. Users can also help themselves prepare for interviews and learn new skills and apply for jobs on Google Pay

Google enters India's job search market to help find entry-level jobs

Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was also present at the event.