India’s second largest operator, Bharti Airtel, has announced a five-year agreement with Google to accelerate the growth of India’s digital ecosystem. Google will invest up to $1bn in the partnership, as part of its Google for India Digitization Fund. The companies will work together on new products and customer experiences, to address challenges of affordability, access and digital inclusion. The $1bn sum will include a $700m equity investment to gain a 1.28% stake in Bharti, at a price of INR734 ($9.77) per share, as well as a maximum of $300m to be spent on fulfilling commercial agreements or scaling Airtel’s offerings. “Airtel and Google share the vision to grow India’s digital dividend through innovative products,” said Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman…