Google backs India’s AI CoEs with $8M and new health, language grants

Summary

Google has unveiled a major AI push in India, committing $8 million via Google.org to four government-backed AI Centres of Excellence focused on health, urban governance, education and agriculture. The company is also funding health-specific foundation models using its MedGemma model, working with Ajna Lens, AIIMS and IISc to convert unstructured clinical notes into FHIR-standard health records and integrate AI into India’s digital public infrastructure. In parallel, Google is putting $2 million into a new Indic Language Technologies Research Hub at IIT Bombay and providing $50,000 grants to startups Gnani.AI and CoRover.AI, plus an IIT Bombay project, to build Indic-language models on Google’s Gemma family. Additional grants totalling $4.5 million will support Wadhwani AI’s HealthVaani assistant for frontline health workers and a new Garuda agriculture language model powering the AgriVaani app. Taken together, the package signals Google’s intention to anchor India’s AI ecosystem around its models and tooling, while aligning with the national slogan “Make AI in India and Make AI work for India.”