'India's heartbeat lives in Tier-2, 3 & rural areas'

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Key points

• India's digital economyGoogle IndiaIndia AI MissionTata steelET World Leaders Forum 2026ET WLF 2026ET World Leaders Forumdigital economy growthAI adoption in Indiatata steel.
• ET World Leaders Forum 2026: The heartbeat of India lives in Tier-2, Tier-3, rural areas, notes Google India MD Preeti Lobana.
• Lobana remarked India's core of small enterprises, farmers and workers would be critical to powering the country's $1 trillion digital economy.
• How India's core of small enterprises, farmers and workers powered the $1 trillion digital economy, she stated.
• Power shift, a déjà vu: Air India could be new CEO's toughest flight yet.

India's digital economy expansion requires empowering small enterprises, farmers, and workers. Artificial intelligence must reach beyond sizeable corporations to benefit all citizens. Firms are moving past AI experiments towards actual deployment and integration. AI can significantly enhance cybersecurity efforts for users and enterprises. India needs compute capacity and infrastructure for widespread AI adoption.

For context, the next phase of India's digital economy would be driven by the country's small enterprises, farmers and workers in Tier-2, Tier-3 and rural India, with artificial intelligence reaching beyond sizeable corporations to unlock broader economic value, Google India MD Preeti Lobana highlighted on Friday. Speaking at the ET World Leaders Forum 2026, she remarked, "The heartbeat of India lives in Tier-2, Tier-3, rural India, " stressing that AI should not benefit only substantial enterprises or a select group of users, but reach the "torso and the long tail" of the Indian economy. Lobana remarked India's core of small enterprises, farmers and workers would be critical to powering the country's $1 trillion digital economy.

While discussing Google's India outlook for 2030, ET World Leaders Forum 2026: Smriti Irani on politics, power and the cost of being a woman "I would link it to a figure. How India's core of small enterprises, farmers and workers powered the $1 trillion digital economy, " she stated. Live Events.

Google works extensively with sizeable enterprises that have scale, capabilities and financial resources. Nevertheless, the bigger opportunity lies in using AI to empower India's broader economic base and ensure that its benefits are widely distributed. "The most critical thing is that AI reaches everyone, and they are benefiting as well, not just the chosen ones, " she remarked. India Inc moves beyond AI experiments.

While expanding AI access throughout the wider economy will be critical, demand among India's substantial enterprises is already solid, Lobana highlighted, adding that businesses are moving beyond experimentation and proof-of-concepts towards actual deployment. "We are way past the era of experiments and proof of concepts, " she remarked, citing Tata Steel as an example as the business deployed 300 specialised AI agents in nine months, with applications including shop-floor safety and invoicing. AI adoption is additionally gaining traction throughout retail, manufacturing and financial services. For this adoption to translate into a larger economic impact, India will need massive compute capacity, security protocols, foundational models, application layers and cutting-edge infrastructure, Lobana remarked. AI as a force multiplier for cybersecurity.

Lobana additionally highlighted cybersecurity as a key area where AI can act as a "force multiplier". While defenders need to be right all the time to protect critical data and users, she remarked, a bad actor needs to be right only once to breach an individual or enterprise. Google is approaching the challenge throughout three areas – users, enterprises and the open web. While its enterprise solutions can allow sensitive documents to run in secure, disconnected environments, on Android, the firm uses AI to prevent billions of potentially harmful outreach attempts. As well as the government's focus on building future AI capabilities through the India AI Mission, as AI infrastructure expands, sovereignty will additionally become increasingly notable for India, she noted, pointing to investments by Indian businesses and technology infrastructure providers. "Sovereignty is about having control and choice, " Lobana remarked. For India, the larger challenge is therefore not simply building AI capabilities, but ensuring that those capabilities reach the country's broader economic base. "Not for the chosen one, AI for all, " Lobana remarked in her closing remarks at ET WLF 2026. Add Now!

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For now, ' India' s heartbeat lives in Tier remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.