Sundar Pichai: Tremendous excitement among Googlers for PM Modi's visit

NEW DELHI: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Silicon Valley, Google's new CEO Sundar Pichai welcomed him to US, saying, "There is tremendous excitement among Googlers, Indians in US for PM Modi's visit."

"It is an honour to welcome PM Narendra Modi to Silicon Valley this weekend," he said. "I hope PM Modi's visit will energise people in the Silicon Valley."

"The bond between India & Silicon Valley has been strong. India has been exporter of talent to tech companies," he said in a video address. "Products built by Indian graduates from IIT & other institutes have revolutionised the world," Pichai added.

Talking about the Digital India initiative, Pichai said, "India is undergoing its own revolution. This will get people in rural areas online. Low cost of bandwidth, offline strategy, affordable phones will connect more people."

"Digital India initiative is centric to revolution & has tremendous support from India and the Silicon Valley. Google will look to play a part in Digital India," he added.

Watch: Sundar Pichai's welcome message to Prime Minister Modi on his visit to Silicon Valley




Ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s trip to Silicon Valley to engage with top CEOs, some of the world’s largest companies started to take a look at a new generation of startups and early-stage companies in Bengaluru — India’s Silicon Valley — developing disruptive solutions that are aligned with their global interests.

This week, General Electric Chairman Jeffrey R Immelt listened to pitches from half-a-dozen startups and a presentation from Nandan Nilekani, a mentor with software products think tank iSPIRT and co-founder of Infosys, India’s most successful startup. It was a 45-minute session and each startup got about 5-6 minutes to make its presentation — and Immelt was impressed with what he saw, said one of the people present.

Immelt is not alone. Over the past few months, executives such as Target CIO Mike McNamara, Visa technology head Rajat Taneja and Lowe’s Chief Information Officer Paul Ramsay have flown to Bengaluru and met startups — some even earmarking funds to invest in disruptive companies that align with their global businesses, according to people familiar with these meetings who requested anonymity.

(With inputs from ET Bureau)