Google brings its AI-powered marketing tools to India after ‘Google tax’ repeal

Google has launched a suite of its AI-powered advertising tools in India, which debuted in the U.S. in May, as the repeal of the so-called “Google tax” has made the South Asian market more attractive to global tech firms selling online ads.

In March, the Indian government scrapped its 6% levy on digital advertisements, effective in April, as a move to address some of the trade concerns raised by the Trump administration.

The United States Trade Representative had criticized the levy by calling it “discriminatory and unreasonable,” as domestic companies were exempt. Its repeal would ease costs for tech giants, including Google, Meta, and Amazon.

On Thursday, Google hosted the local version of its Marketing Live event to debut its AI-powered tools for Indian marketers.

One of the tools is “Generated for You”, available within Product Studio, that identifies relevant content opportunities across shopping catalogs and pre-generates images and videos via AI that merchants can save or publish across Google platforms. Another tool is an opt-in feature called Smart Bidding Exploration in search campaigns, which is built on existing Smart Bidding and uses AI to find newer, qualified leads that merchants wouldn’t have captured or bid on typically.

Plus, Google introduced new agentic capabilities in Google Ads and Analytics.

“These agentic tools can learn from advertising inputs, including datasets, landing pages, assets, and real-time campaign performance, to take the guesswork out of achieving business goals,” Dan Taylor, Vice President for Global Ads at Google, said at a virtual media roundtable.

Google brought AI Max for Search Campaigns, which aims to enhance search ad campaign performance by identifying more relevant and high-performing search queries by learning from brands’ landing pages, their existing ads, and existing keyword lists.

Indian online marketplace for used electronics goods, Cashify, saw its conversions up by 15% and customer acquisition costs reduced by 12% after deploying AI Max during its early testing, Google said.

Google also announced that ads will start appearing on AI Overviews in India later this year.

Additionally, the company has introduced its shoppable connected TV ads on YouTube in India. YouTube’s masthead on mobile will now also start serving ads in the country.

YouTube on connected TVs has been the most-watched streaming service on television in India over the past year, said Roma Datta Chobey, managing director of Digital Native Industries at Google India.

Similarly, the country has been a significant market for YouTube Shorts, with short videos on the platform viewed trillions of times since launch. As many as 87% of Indian consumers watch YouTube or Shorts as part of their shopping journey, Chobey said.

India’s digital advertising presence is growing, as the world’s second-largest internet market continues to see more users come online. The country’s digital ad market is projected to grow over 20% year-over-year, reaching nearly $7 billion by the end of 2025, per a recent Dentsu Digital Advertising report.

“India is such a thriving digital ecosystem. We have the largest number of users who are actively trying and testing our products. So, that’s really the reason behind us getting these innovations to India faster,” Chobey said, in response to TechCrunch’s question about the timing of the new AI ad tools.

Google confirmed to TechCrunch that its newly launched features including AI Max for Search Campaigns, Smart Bidding Exploration, YouTube’s shoppable masthead and CTV, and Performance Max Retention-Only Mode support Hindi to improve local campaign compatibility. Additionally, the company introduced state-level urban and rural audience filters for Indian advertisers to enable more granular media planning, buying, and reporting.

India has long been a key market for Google, not just because it hosts the company’s largest user base but also due to consistent growth in ad revenues. In fiscal year 2024, Google’s gross ad revenue in India increased 11% year-over-year to ₹312.21 billion ($3.6 billion), while its net advertising revenue rose 18% to ₹27.43 billion ($320 million).