Google has planned to invest $15 million (nearly Rs 109 crore) as funding for small and micro enterprises in India to bring back their businesses in the post-COVID-19 market. The company is already in talks with several local partners in India to diversify funding and reach out to as many SMEs as possible.
American multinational technology company specializes in Internet-related services and products especially online advertising technologies, a search engine and cloud computing. It announced its partnership with the European Investment Fund (EIF) along with two other organisations in Latin America and Asia to facilitate $75 million as funding provisions to small and medium-sized companies that were hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
These funds are part of the original $800 million initiative which was announced by Google in March 2020 when the pandemic shut down companies and offices leading to losses in businesses. The initiative to focus on SMEs is to provide them with essential funds that can help them revive their business and survive in case of such unprecedented times in the future.
The crux of Google’s Initiative
Google had announced an investment fund plan of more than $800 million to support small businesses when the pandemic struck the world last year. It has always tried to work towards the upliftment and development of small businesses across the world. The funding by Google will help small and medium scale enterprises in India to revive post-pandemic as many of them have been suffering losses and lack of demand.
With these funds, they can undergo a digital transformation for their company which will help them scale online, innovate and develop better technology and expand their customer base thus inducing demand. This will also help them access the required capital to recover and also build resiliency for the future. Last year, Google planned to invest nearly $10 billion under the Google for India digitisation fund over the next seven years to help India go digital in businesses. This new funding scheme will focus on bringing about digitalisation within the SMEs as well.
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Google is already in talks with several local partners in India to diversify funding and reach out to as many SMEs as possible.
How does Google plan to go ahead with the funding?
Google has planned to invest their funds in three different ways which include an amalgamation of equity investment, partnerships and an operational infrastructure ecosystem in India. They can invest and partner up with several Fintech platforms that are already working towards the same cause.
For instance, Mastercard and Razorpay have recently teamed up to help MSMEs to go digital in India. They can also tap on various banking systems, both digital and traditional ones to transform the operational infrastructure in the business market.
SMEs need funds and guidance to scale their business now more than ever. Google’s initiative will prove to be a blessing for these companies especially post the colossal damage caused by the COVID pandemic.
