Washington: The scale of Indian market has allowed Google to develop new products in the country and take it to the global level, internet giant’s Indian-American CEO Sundar Pichai has said.
Addressing the ‘India Ideas Summit’ of US India Business Council (USIBC), Pichai also said that India and the US can lead on standardisation of privacy frameworks for better safeguards against privacy to ensure free flow of digital trade.
“The Indian government has done a great job of making technology, one of the pillars by which, they will improve governance and as well as socio-economic conditions there. So we’ve been proud to be part of it,” 46-year-old Pichai said at the summit after he received the ‘Global Leadership Award’.
Pichai also stated that Google does care about making cheaper phones so that everyone can afford them.
“We deeply care about making phones cheaper every year so that more people can afford it and access it. In 2004, there were maybe two local manufacturers who would make devices made in India. Now that number is up to well over 200 or so,” Pichai informed.
“Our products have played a foundational role. But increasingly it’s also happening in reverse. The scale of the Indian market, allows us to now develop maybe products there and actually take it out globally as well. So it’s been an interesting trend for the last three to four years or so.
“Our payments product… India was moving towards digital payments, so we thought it was the best market to push the future of payments. We tried it there and it’s worked very well. And now that team is taking that payments product and bringing it out of India to the global market, added Pichai.
“So increasingly we see India not just as, as an opportunity, but you know, building in India and serving the rest of the world as well. And so it’s exciting time,” Pichai further stated.
Last year, Google announced three goals that will drive its services in India. They are – making internet work for more Indians; making Google’s products relevant to Indians; and taking the best of India to the rest of the world. The goals are part of Google’s plan to target every Indian.
Nasdaq president and CEO Adena Friedman was also honourd with an award.
PTI