Tech giant Google has announced a new initiative in India that will help local news organizations scale up their digital operations. Google has introduced Google News Initiative i.e. GNI Indian language program. With the help of this program, small and medium-sized news organizations producing original news in nine Indian languages will be empowered and they will also be funded with training and technical support.

Google News Initiative is a new initiative of Google which will work to empower the local news organization (original news makers). Google will help news organizations in nine Indian languages including English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Gujarati and Marathi. Under the programme, these organizations will be provided training, technical support as well as funding.

Google said that the objective of this initiative is to empower publishers with the help of various tools and best practices to enhance their user experience and revenue on the web. This will include scaled inspiration series and virtual workshops on topics such as Core Web Vitals, Website Optimization, News Consumer Insights (NCI), YouTube.

Google said that selected publishers will also go through a process to assess their page speed, core web vitals performance and other relevant parameters. In addition, some publishers will also receive dedicated consulting and technical support to improve their user experience.

The GNI Indian Language Program can be applied till June 30, 2023. Eligible applicants must be small or medium-sized Indian language news organizations that have an operational website, have been in operation for at least 12 months, and have at least 50 full-time employees. Applications will be evaluated by the Google Projects team and external consultants. Interested news organizations can apply for the program on the GNI website.