Govt working to provide high-speed internet to every village, says PM

The government is working to provide high-speed internet to every village, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday while urging the world to make use of the opportunities in the digital and technology space and invest in India.

Calling the present times as an era of technology and underlining the benefits of technology as demonstrated during the time of the pandemic, he said it is important to invest even further in technology and innovation. The Prime Minister was inaugurating the new 'smart' campus of Bosch India, a leading supplier of technology and services, here, via video message.

Modi said India is among the fastest-growing major economies, and investments have picked up in the last two years. “Thanks to our youth, our start-up ecosystem is among the biggest in the world. In the tech world itself there are so many opportunities," he said.

The government of India, the Prime Minister said, is working to provide high-speed internet to every village. “Our vision of a Digital India includes integrating technology with every aspect of government. I would urge the world to make use of these opportunities and invest in our nation,” he said.

The Prime Minister congratulated Bosch India on completing 100 years of its presence in India and noted the special significance of the event falling in the 75th year of India’s Independence. “This (new smart) campus will certainly take the lead in developing futuristic products and solutions for India and for the world,” the Prime Minister said, recalling his October 2015 visit to the Bosch facility here with the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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Praising Bosch’s work for innovation and scale, he highlighted the need for sustainability. “India's growth is becoming greener with the installed capacity of solar energy increasing nearly 20 times in the last 8 years", Modi said, and lauded Bosch’s feat of achieving carbon-neutrality in both India and outside. The Prime Minister urged Bosch to think of doing even more in India.

“Set goals for the coming 25 years of what your team can do. 100 years ago, Bosch came to India as a German company. But today, it is as much Indian as it is German. It is a great example of German engineering and Indian energy. This partnership will continue to grow stronger,” he said.

Bosch India said it is expanding its AIoT (Artificial Intelligence of Things) activities in India by transforming its headquarters in Adugodi here into a new smart campus called Spark.NXT. Over the last five years, Bosch said it has made an investment of Rs 800 crore in developing the campus, which has the capacity to potentially house 10,000 associates.

"The 76-acre site is Bosch's first smart campus in India and features multiple smart solutions based on sustainability, security, and user experience for associates, visitors, and facility management," the statement said.

"The Spark.NXT campus will provide inspiring working conditions for associates to focus on the development of user-centric innovations for a better quality of life in India," said Filiz Albrecht, member of the board of management and director of Industrial Relations at Robert Bosch GmbH.

Soumitra Bhattacharya, managing director of Bosch Limited and president of the Bosch Group, India, said: "With our new Spark.NXT campus, the company continues to invest in smart and sustainable solutions that are 'Invented for life' and supports the government's vision for an Atmanirbhar Bharat."