Google Announces USD 8 Million Funding for India’s AI Research Ecosystem

In December 2025, global tech giant Google announced a USD 8 million (approximately Rs 72.4 crore) funding commitment to support four Government of India (GoI)–backed Artificial Intelligence (AI) Centres of Excellence (CoEs), during the ‘Google’s Lab to Impact Dialogue’, organised as part of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, in New Delhi, Delhi.

• During the event, Google also unveiled multiple research collaborations and healthcare-focused AI initiatives to further strengthen India’s AI ecosystem.

Key Details of Financial Funding:

Fund Provider: Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google will provide the funds to support four AI CoEs, as part of the GoI’s push to ‘Make AI in India’ and ‘Make AI work for India’.

4 AI CoEs: As per the Google, USD 8 million research funding will be distributed among:

• Translational AI for Networked Universal Healthcare (TANUH) foundation at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru(Karnataka), for non-communicable disease treatment;
• Airawat Research Foundation at Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K), Uttar Pradesh(UP), will use the funds for AI-driven urban governance;
• The AI CoE for Education at IIT-Madras (IIT-M), Chennai(Tamil Nadu, TN)will create innovative solutions to enhance learning and teaching outcomes;
• Alliance for Next-Gen Nourishment through Agriculture Modernization (ANNAM).AI at IIT-Ropar will use the funds to develop data-driven solutions for agriculture and farmer welfare.

Other Key Announcements:

Healthcare Sector: Google announced USD 400,000 in funding to support MedGemma-based collaborations for developing Health Foundation Models and integrating AI into India’s Digital Public Infrastructure(DPI), particularly in the healthcare sector.

Support Language Technologies: Google pledged to provide financial support of USD 50,000 each to startups i.e. Gnani.AI and CoRover.AI to develop Indic language voice and e-governance solutions using Gemma.

• IIT-Bombay (IIT-B), Mumbai(Maharashtra) will get USD 50,000 grant to process Indic language health governance and policy documents to set up a ‘India-Centric Trait Database’.
• It has also announced a USD 2 million founding grant to set up the new Indic Language Technologies Research Hub at IIT-B.

Wadhwani AI: Google has also announced separate funding of USD 2.5 million to support Wadhwani AI’s HealthVaani assistant for Accredited Social Health Activist(ASHA) and Anganwadi workers and additional, USD 2 million to develop Garuda, an Large Language Model (LLM) for agriculture.

Partnership with NHA for Digitisation of Medical Records: 

In December 2025, Google has collaborated with the National Health Authority (NHA) for the deployment of advanced AI for the conversion of medical records into an globally acceptable, machine readable format i.e. Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards.

• Also, NHA with the assistance of Google is planning to bring over 4 lakh registered health facilities onto Google Maps and Search.

Agreement with ReNew for Solar Project:

In December 2025, ReNew Energy Global Plc (ReNew), a leading decarbonisation solutions company, signed a long-term agreement with Google to enable the development of a new 150 Mega-Watt(MW) solar project in Rajasthan.

• Under this strategic partnership, Google will purchase energy attributes like: carbon credits from ReNew, improving the project’s financial stability and helping Google to achieve its carbon reduction targets.
• The solar project, scheduled for commissioning in 2026, is expected to supply nearly 4.25 lakh MegaWatt-hour (MWh) of clean electricity annually that will further power over 3.60 lakh Indian households.

About Google:
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)- Sundar Pichai
Headquarters- California, the United States of America (USA)
Established – 1998