Internet Saathi initiative, a collaborative programme of Google India and Tata Trusts, will be expanded to villages in Punjab and Odisha. Launched in July 2015, the initiative aims to facilitate digital literacy among women in rural India. The programme has contributed towards bridging the digital gender divide in rural India. Initially, in 2015, female to male ratio was 1 in 10 and in 2018, it was increased to 4 in 10. It has trained 70,000 'Internet Saathis'. The programme started as a pilot in Rajasthan and was expanded to states including Gujarat, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana,Tamil Nadu, Goa, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
