MUMBAI: India’s small businesses could soon have a bigger digital toolkit, with Google.org committing $15 million to The/Nudge to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) adopt artificial intelligence and overcome barriers to growth.
The initiative targets a sector that forms a backbone of India’s economy but continues to face challenges in accessing formal credit, managing compliance and reaching digital markets. According to the announcement, India has more than 90 million small businesses employing over 345 million people, making their digital readiness a significant part of the country’s broader economic growth story.
The funding will support the development of scalable AI tools designed to help MSMEs improve access to credit, discover new markets and navigate compliance requirements. The programme will also feature an open call for proposals to identify innovative solutions to the challenges facing small enterprises.
The initiative is intended to move AI beyond the realm of large companies and into the daily operations of smaller businesses. By addressing interconnected challenges such as credit access, market reach and regulatory compliance, the programme aims to help enterprises improve their ability to compete and grow.
Preeti Lobana, vice-president and country manager of Google India, said AI would need to become a practical tool for the millions of small businesses driving the country’s economic growth.
“By partnering with The/Nudge, we are putting open digital tools directly into the hands of small business owners, ensuring that India’s economic backbone is equipped to lead this technology shift,” Lobana said.
Alongside technology development, the programme will introduce a multilingual, voice-led platform to train local talent in Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns. The platform is intended to provide job-ready skills and connect trained individuals directly with small businesses.
The focus on voice-led and multilingual learning could help make digital training more accessible to people who may face language or technology barriers. Connecting trained talent with local enterprises is also intended to help businesses put digital capabilities to practical use.
Subhashree Dutta, chief executive of the^delta, said the initiative would use stage-gated grand challenges to support solutions addressing compliance, market access, quality and credit.
“This is one of the largest philanthropic commitments to India’s MSMEs, and we at the^delta are proud to build it with Google.org to put AI to work for them,” Dutta said.
She added that the programme would support grounded innovation and develop open standards intended to make India’s MSMEs more competitive, creditworthy and visible in global markets.
The initiative aligns with Google’s stated commitment to supporting India’s national AI roadmap. Its impact will depend on how effectively the proposed tools address businesses’ practical needs and whether smaller enterprises can access and adopt them at scale.
For India’s vast small-business sector, the promise is not simply access to another technology. It is the possibility of using AI to tackle everyday obstacles from securing finance to finding customers and turning digital adoption into a more tangible route to growth.