Google to Invest $10B in India • Hacker News Board

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#191

Post by olivermarks » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 2:44 PM UTC

I suggest this is nothing less than a play to control India's core infrastructure, the first truly digital economy ala the WEF's 4th revolution. The challenge will be how monopolistic this is and how democratic imo

https://www.ft.com/content/431e50fb-eedc-44f7-9c36-d85dd9cc2...

'Google said its “India Digitization Fund” would be spread over five to seven years, focusing on affordable internet access, new product development tailored to Indian market needs and accelerating digital transformation, as well as healthcare, education and agriculture. India, with its 1.3bn population, represents one of the biggest opportunities for tech companies globally after hundreds of millions of Indians started using smartphones and accessing the internet in recent years. Google Pay, the company’s digital payments service, has grown rapidly since launching in the country in 2017'.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#192

Post by kamaal » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 2:47 PM UTC

intended wrote: post #181

_jgdh wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They'll drop it as soon as something cheaper comes around. My bet - nothing cheaper comes along. Because Reliance's biggest competitive advantage is close links with the government, regardless of the party in power. A hypothetical competitor would find it difficult to get spectrum allocated, have trouble with land usage rights, tax issues like Vodafone had. There is a reason foreign companies set up joint ventures…

Indian telecom is now a classic oligopoly, far from our heady days as one of the most insanely competitive telecom markets.

Well Indian customer is always a price conscious one though. Like it or not, we are that way. Remember those days people used to make pre agreed arrangements, and just make the communication acknowledgements though missed calls?

So eventually if you want to be profitable and sell more services, you have to offer a good price.

It's just the way it is. I even know people who look at fares and then decide if they want to take their own two wheeler or an Ola. Online food delivery works the same way. People hunt for deals and only order through that.

Sure some people pay for services. But those are generally rare.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#193

Post by ajiteshleo » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 2:52 PM UTC

It seems to be part of some massive PR campaign. Yesterday, there was similar news about Google's investment in Italy - https://twitter.com/sundarpichai/status/1281128295392661504

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#194

Post by izacus » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 3:05 PM UTC

OJFord wrote: post #174

Jweb_Guru wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that corporations can avoid paying taxes anywhere and this is just "good accounting" is stupid on the face of it, regardless of the terminology used.

And I suppose you voluntarily pay more tax than you need to?

"He" is not a for-profit corporation, but a human person. Corporations aren't people no matter how much dollars go into PR efforts to tell people otherwise. As such, them not paying their part to the society is damaging no matter how many personal appeals you do.

Please stop humanizing corporations to make them get away with not paying their part.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#195

Post by throwawaybab323 » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 3:07 PM UTC

altgoogler wrote: post #190

sunseb wrote: post #118

Why not invest in the US and the black community?

(Disclaimer - am Googler; these opinions are my own) It's not an either or decision. One can do both. https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/comm...

lol what this is just 175 million dollar charity donation its not a 10b+ project to guarantee jobs to blacks.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#196

Post by murukesh_s » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 3:09 PM UTC

kranner wrote: post #156

divs1210 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We made the mistake of not conflating East India Company with Britain, and it didn't end well for us.

Who was the us in that scenario? There was no India back then, just a set of kingdoms and 'princely states' that hated each other as much as they opposed any European takeover. The present circumstances are in no way similar.

Ambani is not going to claim Ladakh is his or want to build a house in entire Arunachal Pradesh. China on the other hand.... is already doing that. And we don't want that.(period) literally. Ambani can be dealt with. But not an aggressive neighbour who have control over devices and cameras with 50% of Indian youths.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#197

Post by bhaskara2 » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 3:10 PM UTC

onetimemanytime wrote: post #72

actuator wrote: post #31

Seems like a headline grabbing thing in the current geopolitical context. They are stating $10B in the next 5-7 years. Quite sure a company like Google would have a spend like that earmarked from way before in one of the big emerging markets like India. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google all have been working towards this for a while now.

India is probably China of xx years ago, with a lot more protections. I understand that India is no perfect democracy and corruption exists, but it still wants to act as a democracy.

India is more democratic than even USA. Case in point Arvind Kejriwal and multiple such leaders. Anyone can form a party and contest the elections and actually have a fighting chance to govern India, can the same be said about the USA?

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#198

Post by midasz » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 3:11 PM UTC

enitihas wrote: post #188

intended wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indian telecom is now a classic oligopoly, far from our heady days as one of the most insanely competitive telecom markets.

Ironically, the prices are far lower than they were in those insanely competitive days.

For now

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#199

Post by screye » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 3:12 PM UTC

amrrs wrote: post #3

There's been a recent surge in American companies investing in India primarily through Reliance Jio (owned by Mukhesh Ambani who's got a good connect with the current ruling Government). It's been spiking since the Anti-China sentiment led Buy and Use 'Made in India' cries. Government has even asked eCom Flipkart and Amazon to display Country of Origin for each product. With all these, This investment from Google see…

> Mukhesh Ambani who's got a good connect with the current ruling Government

To be fair, Mukesh has got good connections everywhere. He is India's most powerful person.

Amitabh and the Shahrukh (some of the world's richest actors, both half billionaires) both volunteered as servers at his daughters wedding as a show of appreciation. If a man can command the most powerful of his country to such level of willful subservience, then every Govt. will try to curry favor with him.

I will add, that while his intentions might be entirely selfish, the pace at which Jio was able to bring affordable 4G to the whole country is incredibly empowering for rural / small town India.

That being said, adding money to the pool of what is quickly becoming a monopoly is not a "fund to digitize America" as Pichai put it.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#200

Post by enitihas » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 3:14 PM UTC

midasz wrote: post #198

enitihas wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically, the prices are far lower than they were in those insanely competitive days.

For now

It has been about 3 years atleast since Jio has paid plans, and things are still way way cheaper. Even if the prices double, they will be way cheaper than what they were.