At its Google I/O Connect India 2025 event in Bengaluru, Google announced several new AI capabilities and programs designed to aid India’s developer and startup community. The company revealed it will begin processing its Gemini 2.5 Flash model’s data locally within India, introduced new agentic tools for Firebase Studio, and launched a game development training program with Unity. The announcements aim to support India’s goal of becoming a global AI leader.
Key Takeaways
- Local AI Processing: Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash model will now have its data processed in India; a move directed at developers in regulated sectors like finance and healthcare.
- Agentic AI Tools: Firebase Studio gets new features, including optimized AI templates, to help developers build applications with simple text prompts.
- Game Developer Training: A new free training and certification program with Unity and the Game Developer Association of India (GDAI) will be offered to 500 developers initially.
- Startup Collaboration: Google is working with India AI Mission-selected startups like Sarvam, Soket AI, and Gnani to build India-specific AI models using Google’s open-source Gemma.
- Maps API Updates: New India-specific pricing for the Google Maps Places UI Kit and AI-powered summaries for the Places API will be available to developers.
AI Capabilities for Indian Developers
A central part of the event was the announcement of local data processing for Gemini 2.5 Flash in India. This step is designed to provide better stability and speed for Indian developers. It particularly addresses the needs of those building applications for the public sector and industries with strict data residency requirements, where low-latency processing is a priority.
Google also highlighted its work with its open-source Gemma models. Three startups selected by the India AI Mission, Sarvam, Soket AI, and Gnani, are using Gemma to create ‘Make in India’ AI models. Google mentioned its work with Sarvam, which recently used Gemma to build a model for long-form text translation. In another collaboration, Google is partnering with BharatGen at IIT Bombay to develop Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text-to-Speech (TTS) models for Indian languages.
For developers in India’s mobile commerce sector, Google is expanding access to information from Google Maps. It also introduced new India-specific pricing for its Places UI Kit to reduce costs for developers and is rolling out AI-powered summaries in the Places API to help create more informative location-based services.
New Avenues for Growth
Google also focused on programs to support the large developer ecosystem in India. According to a third-party evaluation cited by the company, the Google Play and Android ecosystem contributed INR 4 lakh crore in revenue to the Indian economy in 2024 and supported 35 lakh jobs.
To help developers explore new opportunities, Google launched the ‘Google Play x Unity Game Developer Training’ program. This is a free, globally recognized certification course created with Unity, a leading game development platform, and the GDAI. The program offers over 30 hours of online training for game developers, artists, and programmers. It will initially be available to 500 developers in partnership with the governments of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
During the event, Dr. Manish Gupta, Senior Director for India and APAC at Google DeepMind, noted the work of Indian developers in building real-world applications. Preeti Lobana, Country Manager for Google India, also spoke about the company’s interest in helping Indian developers build for a global audience.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1: What is Gemini 2.5 Flash processing in India?
A1: It means that when Indian developers use Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash AI model, the data they send will be processed on servers located within India. This helps meet data residency laws and can improve speed and reliability, which is important for apps in sectors like banking, healthcare, and government services.
Q2: What is the Google Play x Unity training program?
A2: It is a free, online training and certification program for game developers in India. Created by Google in partnership with Unity and the GDAI, it provides over 30 hours of material to help aspiring and professional developers improve their skills in game design, art, and programming.
Q3: How do the new Google Maps features help Indian developers?
A3: Google introduced new India-specific pricing for its Places UI Kit, making it cheaper for developers to add location features to their apps. The expansion of AI-powered summaries to the Places API in India allows developers to create more detailed and useful location-based services for their users.
Q4: What is Agentic AI in Firebase Studio?
A4: Agentic AI in Firebase Studio refers to a set of new tools that allow developers to build and create full-stack applications using single text prompts. Features like Optimized AI templates help generate app code and user interfaces automatically, aiming to speed up the development process.
