By: Tech Desk, New Delhi

Updated: January 15, 2026 12:38 PM IST

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Google India has launched the “Google Market Access Programme,” a new initiative aimed at helping Indian AI startups scale their products for enterprise adoption by leveraging the tech giant’s vast distribution network and access to key international markets.

Indian AI startups that are part of the programme will also have access to Google’s latest and most capable AI models, including its Gemini models for complex reasoning and the Gemma family of models for open research, according to the company.

“India’s AI startup story has entered a decisive new phase. We are moving from prototypes to products, and from early traction to sustainable businesses,” said Preeti Lobana, Country Manager, Google India, at the Google AI Startups Conclave held in New Delhi on Thursday, January 15.

“Our focus now is accelerating how quickly Indian startups can scale, reach global markets, and deliver outcomes. That is why we are strengthening our full‑stack support for startups across the lifecycle, from capability building to real‑world deployment and scale,” Lobana added.

In May 2025, Google announced the AI Futures Fund to invest in and collaborate with AI startups globally. Months later, the company announced a partnership with VC firm Accel to shortlist and jointly invest $2 million in early‑stage AI startups under the AI Futures Fund.

While India has quickly emerged as a key user market for AI companies, it is also seen as lagging behind the United States and China when it comes to frontier model development.

India’s AI market is projected to hit $126 billion by 2030, as per a joint report published by Google and Inc42, with over 47 percent of enterprises already moving pilots into production. The report titled “Bharat AI Startups Report 2026” highlighted that public rails for accessing compute power are allowing Indian startup founders to spend less on infrastructure and more on product innovation.

The report pointed out that one of India’s biggest assets in the global AI race is Indic language models. “If an AI agent works reliably for a rural user in India, it is robust enough for the world,” Google said.

Google also said its full‑stack support to Indian AI startups includes access to its AI infrastructure and global data‑centre capacity. “Our upcoming Global AI Hub in Visakhapatnam will further strengthen this foundation, providing a future‑ready, 1‑gigawatt anchor for the AI economy,” the company added.

In terms of AI safety, Google said startup founders will be able to rely on its private AI compute offering to ensure on‑device security that keeps sensitive data accessible only to the user. The company also spotlighted its health‑focused, four‑billion‑parameter AI model called MedGemma 1.5, which is being utilised by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to analyse high‑dimensional medical imaging and 3D volume representations, including CT scans, MRIs, and histopathology slides.

MedGemma, as well as other open‑weight models developed by Google, can be accessed by developers via HuggingFace and Vertex AI.