After expanding Android presence through Android One and widening its cloud offerings, Google is now on the move to enrich small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India. The search giant on Wednesday announced its Digital Unlocked programme to train Indian businesses ‘going digital’ and have a web presence.
With Digital Unlocked, Google is aiming to digitalise the Indian business world and bring SMBs to the Web and mobile worlds. The company has also launched its Primer app to teach digital marketing skills to thousands and millions of Indian entrepreneurs. The app uses an open source library to deliver a comfortable learning experience.
“Today, anyone can become an entrepreneur, a developer or a creator, but it is important that they have the right tools and skills to digitise. We believe it is important for us to invest in training and equipping these individuals and small businesses to accelerate their journey of growth,” Sunder Pichai, CEO of Google, told the reporters.
In a joint research with KPMG, Google found that 68 percent of the 51 million Indian SMBs are online. This has brought the need for the latest initiatives.
Titled “Impact of internet and digitisation on SMBs in India”, the study shows that digitally engaged businesses can grow their customer base significantly with 52 percent catering to customers beyond their home city versus 29 percent offline SMBs.
