Google for India 2020: Google partners with Prasar Bharti to launch edutainment series for SMBs

Google hosted its annual Google for India event on Monday. The sixth edition of the event that was held virtually for the first time saw the company’s leads sharing details on how its services like GPay and Bolo app, that were initially launched for the Indian market, have helped in creating a global standard. At the event, which began at 2PM, Google India also announced a special partnership with the government’s public broadcasting arm, Prasar Bharti.

Google announced that it would soon launch an edutainment series that will feature success stories of Indian businesses going digital. The series would also explore how small and medium business enterprises in India were adapting to the changing scenario in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“And now in partnership with Prasar Bharti, we’re also launching an edutainment series on Doordarshan on how small businesses can adopt digital tools and adapt to the current situation using examples of real-life Indian businesses,” Caesar Sengupta, Google India’s Lead Payments & Next Billion Users teams, said during the event.

“We hope that these efforts help small businesses in India access skills and resources they need to go digital,” he added.

The Google executive also presented some interesting statistics pertaining to Google’s various initiatives in the country. For instance, over 26 million SMEs in India are now discoverable via Google Maps and Google Search and that the company drives over 150 billion direct connections between businesses and customers every month.

He also revealed that over 2 million users have used the Nearby Stores Spot on Google Pay to find and buy essential goods and that over 3 million businesses now accept contactless digital payments with Google Pay for Business.