Google has announced a series of artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives in India spanning agricultural research, farmer services, education and small business development, aiming to translate advanced technology into practical solutions for economic and social progress. The initiatives include AI-assisted research to develop climate-resilient crops, expanded access to agricultural intelligence models, training for educators and a $15 million funding commitment to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The announcements, outlined by Preeti Lobana, Vice President and Country Manager, Google India, and Lila Ibrahim, Global Chief AI Readiness Officer at Google, build on partnerships with research institutions, government agencies and grassroots organisations to extend the use of AI across sectors critical to India’s development.
AI to accelerate climate-resilient crop research
A key initiative involves Google DeepMind and Google.org, through the AI Collaborative for Food Security, partnering with the Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle.
The collaboration will develop an open-access genetic atlas of sorghum, or jowar, using advanced genetic analysis and machine learning. The project will draw on a representative sample from ICRISAT’s genebank, which holds more than 44,000 distinct seed collections from over 90 countries, including India.
The AI-supported catalogue is expected to help researchers and crop breeders identify promising genetic combinations and develop more productive, climate-resilient varieties faster than conventional breeding methods, which can involve years of trials.
The initiative will also support a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at ICRISAT funded by Google DeepMind. It is the organisation’s first such fellowship in India and its first outside the United Kingdom. The work will help develop genome-characterisation tools for other important crops, including chickpea, groundnut and pigeon pea.
Dr Stanford Blade, Deputy Director General, Research and Innovation, ICRISAT, said, “We are excited to partner with Google and bring AI’s potential to the mission of transforming dryland agriculture.”
He added that the collaboration could unlock the global potential of indigenous, climate-resilient crops such as sorghum and equip the agricultural ecosystem with advanced tools to strengthen food security and protect future generations. The initiative also aligns with India’s emphasis on millets, as an important component of agricultural resilience.
Expanding AI-powered agricultural services
Google is expanding access to its Agricultural Understanding models, making them available in public preview to developers, startups and researchers. The models are designed to support locally tailored solutions for farming challenges and improve services for smallholder farmers.
The company said its India-first agricultural models, developed by its AnthroKrishi team, now provide insights for 11 countries.
In Gujarat, technology company Amnex has integrated Google’s agricultural model APIs into the state government’s Krushi Pragati crop intelligence platform. Over the past year, the platform has supported more than 900 million SMS-based advisories for over 600,000 farmers across the state, covering crop and soil health, pest and disease management, and weather patterns. These services have supported farming activities across more than 14 million hectares.
Nirav Shah, CEO of AMNEX Infotech, said agricultural decisions have long been constrained by the lack of timely, farm-level data, making it difficult to deliver appropriate interventions when needed.
“Google's ALU and AMED models have helped solve this challenge, providing validated, real-time, parcel-level intelligence that is now powering India’s farmer-centric digital infrastructure,” Shah said.
He added that platforms such as Krushi Pragati had helped improve farmers’ access to credit and support crop productivity, while bringing advanced AI technologies to agricultural fields.
Google is also working with OpenAgriNet, a global coalition seeded and led by EkStep Foundation, to develop agricultural analytics tools for administrators and explore applications that bring together fragmented farming information on a single platform in users’ preferred languages.
AI training for teachers
In education, Google is expanding its AI Educator Series, launched in India in May in partnership with five state and regional organisations. The mobile-first programme trains teachers to use tools such as Gemini and Gemini Notebook to prepare lesson plans, develop learning materials and streamline routine work.
More than 80,000 educators have been trained since May. The programme is being expanded through new partnerships with Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
$15 million commitment for MSMEs
Google.org is committing $15 million in funding to The/Nudge to accelerate the growth of India’s MSME sector. The funding will support the development of scalable AI tools to improve small businesses’ access to formal credit, market discovery and regulatory compliance.
India has more than 90 million MSMEs employing over 345 million people, according to the announcement.
The initiative will include an open call for proposals to identify innovative solutions and a multilingual, voice-led platform to train local talent in Tier 3 and Tier 4 towns. The platform will focus on job-ready skills and connecting trained individuals directly with small businesses.