New Google Feature: Google announces new India-specific product features for local language access

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Google has announced a number of new product features aimed at extending the benefits of India’s growing digital economy to more people through increased local language and voice support in search, digital payments and vaccine slot reservations.

In a first initiative in India, Google unveiled a feature that will allow people to listen to search results aloud, making it easier for users who prefer to consume information by listening. Aiming to expand voice-driven experiences in local languages, this feature will be available in Hinglish and five Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, and Tamil, and will be rolled out to other Google Search experiences in the future.

Google for India 2021: from vaccine reservations to Hinglish support in Google apps, here are the highlights

In the seventh annual “Google for India” event, the US-based company announced a series of new product features aimed at extending the benefits of India’s growing digital economy to more people through local languages ​​and support. voice in search, digital payments and vaccine slot bookings. watch this video for key announcements!

Google added that it is piloting the first Google Assistant-enabled end-to-end vaccine booking flow in India. The Google Assistant-enabled end-to-end vaccine booking flow will guide users through the process of booking a vaccination appointment on the COWIN website with voice guidance in English and eight Indian languages ​​at each step. Google has worked closely with COWIN to enable this integration, in which even a relatively new internet user will now be able to easily book a vaccine appointment. This feature will be available in Chrome on Android and will begin rolling out in early 2022.

A new feature in Search will offer users the ability to access web pages from other languages ​​and view them in their preferred local language. Google said the feature stems from a key challenge with local language queries and the lack of adequate local language content available on a topic to deliver high-quality results. Now, when searching in a local language, if Google is unable to locate websites that contain information in that language, it will find content on pages that may be in other languages ​​and translate it into the language of the user’s query.

The announcements were made at “Google for India”, an annual event held for the seventh year. “Google for India” is known for bringing India-centric features to its product portfolio. Last year, the tech giant launched Google for $ 10 billion for the India Digitization Fund.

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LOG IN “Among people, companies and institutions, the COVID-19 epidemic has catapulted India’s digital adoption to unprecedented levels. With the fundamental drivers of digitization now in place and millions of new users online, India’s goal of becoming a truly digital economy is in sight, ”said Sanjay Gupta, Country Head & Vice President, Google India.

It is now imperative that Google increases its efforts in creating products that are even more understanding of India’s diverse and unique needs, Gupta added, so that the benefits of this crucial transformation are accessible to all.

“We hope these enhancements will go a long way in helping local language users access relevant information. We look forward to bringing these and many other language-based features to Google products to help advance India’s Internet ecosystem, ”said Pandu Nayak, Vice President, Search and Google Fellow.

Google said today’s announcements underscore Google’s growing focus on product innovations that will help new internet users in India more easily access information in Indian languages, create more natural ways for local language speakers to interact. with the Internet, to make the Android experience more useful and provide support for small businesses and young people in India.

Union Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar called on Google to further help India reach its $ 1 trillion digital economy goal by 2025. “I am confident and confident that Google’s mentoring through this initiative will help selected startups emerge stronger in this new post-Covid normal. I would like to invite Google and the rest of the industry to participate in India’s $ 1 trillion digital economy mission, which will pave the way for the rest of the world, “he said.

The number of Indians using voice queries every day is nearly twice the global average, and a third of Google Assistant users in India communicate with it in local languages ​​for large and small needs, Google said.

“In recent years, we have sought to reduce this complexity and remove information barriers, particularly with innovations in speech recognition and language understanding. India continues to be a global leader in adopting these technologies, “said Prabhakar Raghavan, Senior Vice President, Google.

With the aim of simplifying digital payments, Google Pay has launched an additional option to select Hinglish as the preferred language on Google Pay. With this addition, users will be able to navigate the app in the language of their choice, with Hinglish as an option to mirror how a large section of Indians interact naturally. Google Pay has also launched text-to-speech, which allows users to use speech as input to add account numbers in the app to initiate a payment and an additional feature to split bills for shared expenses within a group.

“With over 10 million merchants now on Google Pay for Business and many more joining digital payments every day, we are making it easier for merchants and micro-entrepreneurs to create an online presence right from the Google Pay for Business app,” he said. Ambarish Kenghe, Vice President, Product Management, Google Pay.

Kenghe also spoke about the launch of “MyShop”, through which merchants will be able to build a showcase where they can add images, descriptions of their products and prices in an easy and intuitive way, then share the link on Google surfaces and beyond. Google on social media.

The Union Minister for the Development of Education Skills, Dharmendra Pradhan, also spoke at the event. He said digital literacy changes lives and can improve employability. “Digital skills are essential to be ready for the future. Demand for skilled labor in India will increase 20 times by 2024, adding 1.3 million jobs to the digital economy. ”

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