Google CEO Sundar Pichai meets PM Modi, expresses support for India's G20 presidency

NEW DELHI: Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday said that India will be a big export economy and the pace of technological change in the country has been extraordinary.
Speaking at the Google India event, Pichai said that there's so much opportunity still ahead. "Glad to be able to see it up close, and I'm already looking forward to my next visit," the Google chief said.
Praising the government's Digital India vision, Pichai said that it has helped to accelerate the progress we're seeing across the country.
"I'm excited for India to share its experience with the world as it takes over the G20 presidency in 2023," he said.
Later in the day, Pichai also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asured support towards India's G20 presidency.
"Inspiring to see the rapid pace of technological change under your leadership. Look forward to continuing our strong partnership & supporting India's G20 presidency to advance an open, connected internet that works for all," the Google CEO said in a tweet.

Separately, in a blog post, Pichai wrote that he discussed with PM Modi how Google has been supporting small businesses and startups, investing in cybersecurity, providing education and skills training, and applying AI (Artificial Intelligence) in sectors like agriculture and healthcare.
The India-born CEO of Google said that the company is focussing on startups from India and out of its USD 300 million for the startups, around one-fourth will be invested in entities that are led by women.
He said that the technology is working at a big scale and touching lives of people around the world, which calls for framing responsible and balanced regulation.
"Given the scale and technology leadership it (India) will have, it's important to make sure you are balancing, putting in safeguards for people. You're creating an innovative framework, so that companies can innovate on top of a certainty in the legal framework. I think it is an important moment in time. India will also be a big export economy. It will benefit from an open and connected internet and getting that balance right will be important," Pichai said.
'Google AI model to support over 100 languages'
Pichai also said that Google is working on making text and voice internet search available in over 100 Indian langugages.
"I'm here to see progress being made from our $10 billion, 10-year India Digitization Fund (IDF), and share new ways. We're helping to advance India's digital future at our Google for India event.
"That includes our efforts to build a single, unified AI model that will be capable of handling over 100 Indian languages across speech and text - part of our global effort to bring the world's 1,000 most-spoken languages online, and to help people access knowledge and information in their preferred language," he wrote in a blog.
In July 2020, Google had announced plans to invest $10 billion in India over next five to seven years as the search giant looks to help accelerate adoption of digital services in the key overseas market.
(With inputs from agencies)