Google has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of the western Indian state of Maharashtra to use Artificial Intelligence for solutions in sectors like agriculture, healthcare and education. The MoU was signed in the presence of Sanjay Gupta (Country Head, and VP, Google India), Devendra Fadnavis (Deputy Chief Minister, Maharashtra) and Nitin Kareer (Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra).
This partnership will help the Maharashtra government in a total of seven areas of collaboration such as improving delivery of government services and implementing sustainable agriculture initiatives.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Google India said, “Technology has the potential to deliver boundless benefits to the economy, society, and people. Today, we’re thrilled to join hands with the Maharashtra Government on AI solutions that empower citizens, create new opportunities, and build a thriving innovation ecosystem.”
“Through this collaboration, our aim is to empower citizens, create new opportunities, foster a thriving innovation ecosystem, and bring the transformative power of AI to the people of Maharashtra,” Google’s India country head and VP Sanjay Gupta said.
Speaking on the occasion, Dy.CM Fadnavis said, “This is a very historic day, where we are partnering with each other to make the lives of people better.” He further said, “When delivery system of government, and the schemes of government, are powered by emerging technologies, it has the potential to change the lives of people.”
Fadnavis also made a passionate argument for the role AI could play in empowering sustainability initiatives. He said, “Today sustainability is something about which we are talking in every sphere of life, but it is most vital in the sphere of agriculture. Half of our worry in governance is related to sustainability in agriculture, because due to climate change, in the same year, we have unseasonal rain, we have drought and we have all sorts of (extreme climate) events.”
Maharashtra has been busy attracting businesses, especially data centers, to set base in the state that the Dy.CM insisted was the “start-up capital of India” as opposed to Bengaluru in a friendly jibe at the tech savvy city that has always got a lot of international attention.
Recently, at World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, Switzerland, Maharashtra inked two key MoUs for data center development. The first was a Rs 10,000 crore (US$ 120 Million approx.) MoU with Web Werks which will build a data center in the state. Shortly afterwards, it announced that it had also signed an MoU with Adani Enterprises Ltd., a part of the wider Adani Group, worth Rs 50,000 crores (US$ 6 Billion approx.) for a 1 GW data center.