The ‘Google for India’ event took place in New Delhi today. The second session of the event started with Rajan Anandan (Vice President, Indian and South East Asia - Google) touching on the announcements made earlier in the morning: - A New operating system for emerging markets like India – Android Oero (Go Edition). It is optimised for performance, security, data management and storage. - Google Go app launched. He explained that Google Go is an optimised easy to use app to help make the best of the web, especially on low ram devices and on unstable connections. - Google assistant (Assistant Go) will be available on entry level smart phones. Further, Google Assistant Go in both 'Hinglish' and Hindi will be available on Jio phones. - Google maps for two wheelers. He stated that India has already crossed 400 MN internet users; 330 MN people access the internet on their smart phones, and the consumption patterns are approximately 4 gigabytes of data per user / per month. Because of such wide spread internet access and usage increased online video consumption has been seen with You Tube having more than 225 MN monthly active users in India. All this he said, points to the fact that ‘Digital has arrived’. Over the last 18 months It has been noticed that digital is driving businesses at scale across industries, from FMCG to traditional retail. And as a result, the way Brands engage with their users is also changing rapidly. The path to purchase has changed forever, for example, 35% of all smartphones sold in India are sold online. He further pointed out that Digital is driving not just online sales but also offline sales. For example, the L’Oréal hair fall shampoo, witnessed a 37% increase in offline sales through You Tube advertising. Another example given was that of Shoppers Stop - for every 1 dollar spent on digital advertising, they got back 2 dollars on the online site and 3 dollars at the physical store.