Gemini Live now available in Hindi, support for 8 more Indian languages coming

This year’s Google for India event celebrates major milestones. At the 10th edition of the event today, the company announced that it has marked 20 years of operations in India in 2024. At the event, Google’s big focus is on AI with Gemini, “its most capable AI model yet”. Over 40 per cent of Gemini’s Indian language users use voice input. And so, Google has announced today that Gemini Live, which is already available in English, is also available in Hindi starting today. Support for 8 more Indian languages is also coming very soon.
In India, Google AI Overview, which is currently already available in Hindi, is now also available in Bengali, Telugu, and Marathi.
In India, Google has also added 2 new real-time weather related updates in Google Maps, which will allow users to report and be alerted about fog and flooding on the roads.
Using AI, Google is also allowing cancer and tuberculosis screening in the country. The company has already been working with hospitals in India to deploy its AI models for better health outcomes. In fact, Google says it could offer these AI screenings for free over the next 10 years.
Google says its connects 35 million customers through its payments services. Google has announced that a new feature called UPI Circle is now available on Google Pay that allows users to request someone else to pay money on their behalf. For instance, your kid doesn’t have their own account but they want to make a payment, so they can send a request to your Google Pay app, and you can pay the amount on their behalf.
Google has also expanded its loan limits to Rs 5 lakh via Google Pay. The payment app will now also allow users to apply for Gold loans up to Rs 50 lakh.
Google also has a new feature for merchants in India, which will allow them to add their WhatsApp contact in their information page on Google, so that customers can directly text them on WhatsApp. Until now, merchants could only add a mobile no. for calling in their business description. This new feature has been rolled out in India first.
Google has trained over 80,000 women as part of their Internet Saathi spilling programme, says Shekhar Khosla, VP marketing in India. Today, Google has announced new AI skills House, which is a platform for AI learning for students, educators and others. The courses will also award students digital badges to encourage learning. Google says it will be available to 10 million Indians in the country. These AI courses will initially be available in India, and will eventually be expanded to 7 Indian languages.
Google has also announced a $4 million with Google.org, its non-profit philanthropy branch, for expanding education support in India.
Google also announced that all companies in India, across all sectors, will be able to save their Gemini 1.5 Flash data locally in India.
Google is also expanding its Safety Engineering System to the country, which will be launched in 2025. This is part of Google’s improvements to DigiKavach, an anti-fraud service that the company announced at the Google for India event 2023.
Google has also announced 24/7 carbon free energy goals. The company says it is also making clean energy accessible to all, as the company recognises that the “need for clean air is urgent”. For this, Google has added 186 MW of clean energy to the Indian grid. The company has also partnered with Adani group for setting up a solar farm in Gujarat.
The Google for India 2024 event is all about Google’s growing role in the country, emphasising its AI innovations and commitment to addressing local needs. With the rollout of Gemini Live in Hindi and upcoming support for more Indian languages, Google continues to tailor its technology for India’s vast linguistic diversity. Other significant updates include AI-driven health initiatives, enhanced payment features through Google Pay, and new tools for merchants. These India-centric advancements reflect Google’s broader vision to deepen its impact on the country’s digital and technological ecosystem.