Google India has announced two significant developments that work in the way of supporting the Indian language news ecosystem and expanding the Indian language web. Firstly, Google News will now include two more Indian languages: Gujarati and Punjabi, bringing the total number of supported languages to ten in India. The addition of these languages will be available in the coming weeks, helping make information accessible to people across India in the language they prefer. Secondly, GNI Indian Languages Program which was announced earlier this year, has received over 600 applications from news publishers across India. Of these, 300+ publishers have been selected to participate in the program, which will provide them with support to modernise their digital ecosystem and improve the user experience across web, mobile, and app domains. This will be done by providing publishers with access to essential resources and support, such as training workshops, webinars, mentorship sessions, product demos, best practices guides, and case studies. These announcements were made at the second edition of the Google India News Summit. The summit was opened by Nandan Nilekani, founding chairman of UIDAI, who delivered a keynote on the digital transformation of the Indian economy and the potential for quality content creation and consumption. In a conversation with Google India, Mr Nilekani remarked: "Given the digital transformation happening, there is enormous potential for the right content at a global scale, especially in India, where UPI is enabling seamless transaction and subscription models. The hunger for trusted and credible content in this deeply aspirational country is evident, especially among the youth who seek knowledge for a bright future."
