Google announced a fresh wave of AI-focused investments and partnerships in India, spanning healthcare, research, startups and clean energy, as it positioned itself as a key partner in the country’s “AI for India” ambitions.
At its “Lab to Impact: Google on Health, Science and Society” event on Tuesday, held alongside the India–AI Impact Summit 2026, Google said it would fund $400,000 to support new collaborations using its MedGemma model to build India-specific health foundation models.
AI in healthcare and public infrastructure
For instance, Ajna Lens is set to work with AIIMS experts on AI models for dermatology and OPD triaging, with outcomes to be contributed to India’s Digital Public Infrastructure. IISc researchers would explore broader clinical applications, the tech giant said in an official statement.
Google stated that it was also working with the National Health Authority to convert millions of unstructured clinical notes into the global FHIR standard, and to bring over 4 lakh NHA-registered hospitals, clinics and labs onto Google Maps and Search.
Funding for AI research and Indian languages
Through Google.org, the company said it would provide $8 million to four government-backed AI Centres of Excellence at IISc Bengaluru, IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras and IIT Ropar, working on non-communicable diseases, urban governance, education and agriculture.
It also said it planned to give $2 million to set up an Indic Language Technologies Research Hub at IIT Bombay, in memory of linguistics pioneer Prof. Pushpak Bhattacharyya, to ensure AI tools work well across Indian languages. Google said it has supported nearly 1,000 years of PhD-level research across more than 25 Indian institutions, including 166 PhD students, through its global fellowship programme.
Backing startups, social innovators
Two Indian startups, Gnani.AI and CoRover.AI, are set to receive $50,000 each to build Indic language voice and e-governance solutions on Google’s Gemma models, while IIT Bombay bagged a $50,000 grant to use Gemma for an India-centric health trait database.
All 22 Gemma models have been uploaded to the India AI Mission’s AIKosh platform to boost local developers, the tech giant added.
Khushi Baby, a non-profit digital health organisation, already used Google’s Open Health Stack for over 3.5 crore TB screenings in Rajasthan this year. Ading to that, Google.org is giving $2.5 million to Wadhwani AI for HealthVaani, an AI assistant for ASHA and Anganwadi workers, plus $2 million for Garuda, an Indian-language agriculture model powering the AgriVaani advisory app.
Google also announced its partnership with ReNew Energy on a new 150 MW solar project in Rajasthan to address AI’s growing energy footprint.
