After introducing the WiFi enabling program at India’s most crowded 100 railway station, Google CEO Sundar Pichai today launched the ‘Digital Unlocked’ program in India which aims at bringing the Small and Medium scale Businesses a.k.a SMBs of the country online and help them grow their businesses digitally.

Google has collaborated with the ‘Information Technology’ Ministry of India and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) to launch the programme. 

Courses, certifications from Google and Indian School of Business are included in the programme.

The SMBs should visit the Digital Unlocked website for registering themselves for the programme. Google had a workshop going on for businesses at the event itself and plans to certify 100 businesses by end of the day.

Precisely 5000 workshops were planned to be conducted in 40 cities across India. There will be an app as well, called Primer, available on iOS and Android in Hindi and English. The free app works offline and will allow business owners to try out advanced and basic courses for going digital on the go.

Addressing the gathering, Google CEO, Sundar Pichai said that the content of Digital Unlocked is quite basic and will help its students build a foundation of digital skills to grow their businesses.

Various topics that were offered in the Digital Unlocked program are mentioned in the very first pages, a user can set their goals according to what’s right for them whether they want to sell online, or they want to increase their online reach on social media, or simply get their work noticed.

Sundar Pichai further said that people are lacking in the skills used to proceed towards the programme, which one of the barriers towards the digital economy. Google’s digital skills training program is aimed to address these issues.

“The Internet and digital technology will be an engine of growth for the Indian economy. Today, anyone can become an entrepreneur, a developer, or a creator, but it is important that they have the right tools and skills to digitise. We believe it is important for us to invest in training and equipping these individuals and small businesses to accelerate their journey of growth,” he said.

Despite the programme, he promised that Google is committed to bringing every single business online in India, he added that the contribution of SMEs to India’s GDP can grow by 10 per cent based on the KPMG-Google study.