Google has big plans for India

Google has plans of a setting up a server farm in India and an investment of U.S. $1bn (approx. Rs. 4646 crores*) in on the anvil in a SEZ (Special Economic Zone), most probably, in Hyderabad. They have yet to decide on the exact location, although Google says they plan to invest beyond their R&D location in Bangalore, and Google already has an AdWords Back Office operation at Madhapur in Hyderabad. So it seems to be a SEZ near Hyderabad.

What does one make of it? Do they have plans of Local search and regional language searching for India? Say Google India Local, Google India Maps, and Google India multi-lingual search and Gmail in regional languages. All these are possibilities.

A server farm in India means an even faster and smoother Web & image searching, browsing, viewing, chatting, blogging, and emailing experience for Google users from India.

All the best, Google, and hope your plans materialize unlike the last time around when you had to set up a server farm in Taiwan. The Andhra Pradesh government is comparatively more IT-savvy and proactive than say the Maharashtra government, and Hyderabad has always received investment and support for infrastructure development from the politicians in power, whether it was Chandrababu Naidu in 2003 or Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy in 2006. So Hyderabad seems to be a good choice.

* 1 million = 10 lakh
10 million = 100 lakh = 1 crore