Google has unveiled a series of artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives in India, committing $15 million to support micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and enhancing access to agricultural AI tools. These efforts aim to bolster India's AI ecosystem by focusing on small business technology, agricultural research, and education.
The $15 million funding will be directed towards The/Nudge, an organization tasked with developing scalable AI solutions for India's MSMEs. This initiative will concentrate on improving access to formal credit, market discovery, and compliance. An open call for proposals is set to identify innovative solutions tailored to the needs of small businesses.
Preeti Lobana, vice-president and country manager of Google India, emphasized the importance of AI in driving economic growth for small businesses. A multilingual, voice-led platform is also part of the plan, aimed at training local talent in Tier III and Tier IV towns, equipping them with job-ready skills, and connecting them with MSMEs.
In a broader announcement, Google revealed that developers, startups, and researchers can now access its agricultural understanding models through a public preview of application programming interfaces (APIs). These models offer agricultural insights across 11 countries, and the OpenAgriNet coalition, led by the EkStep Foundation, has integrated these APIs into an agricultural analytics dashboard. This platform seeks to consolidate fragmented agricultural information in farmers' preferred languages.
For agritech startups, the availability of these APIs means they can focus on developing localized products and specialized use cases without the need to build foundational agricultural intelligence from scratch. However, Google has not yet disclosed the commercial terms for API access.
Additionally, Google DeepMind is collaborating with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, and the University of Washington to create an open-access genetic atlas of sorghum. This project will utilize ICRISAT's genebank, which contains over 44,000 distinct seed varieties from more than 90 countries. The research aims to identify promising plant combinations and develop more productive, climate-resilient crops, offering potential resources for startups in agricultural biotechnology and crop science.
Google DeepMind will also support a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at ICRISAT, marking its first such initiative in India and outside the UK. The research will extend to other crops, including chickpea, groundnut, and pigeon pea.
On the educational front, Google has trained over 80,000 educators through its Google AI Educator Series since May. The program is expanding through partnerships with Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, alongside free, self-paced online training. The company is also supporting educators across 100 Atal Tinkering Labs through ATL Saathi, a Gemini-powered desktop application for STEM curricula.
A separate collaboration with IIT Bombay and the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser will focus on education research. While these initiatives may create opportunities for edtech startups developing products for teacher training and STEM learning, Google has not announced a dedicated startup funding pool for this program.
These latest initiatives build on Google's previous investments in India's AI ecosystem. In December 2025, Google committed $8 million to four government-established AI Centres of Excellence, focusing on healthcare, urban governance, education, and agriculture. Additionally, Google announced a $2 million founding contribution to establish the Indic Language Technologies Research Hub at IIT Bombay. The company has also pledged $400,000 to collaborations developing India's health foundation models using its MedGemma technology, which includes work on dermatology and outpatient-department triage.
