US Silicon Valley behind Digital India vision, says Google's Sundar Pichai
San Francisco, September 24 2015: Google's Chennai, India-born CEO designate,Sundar Pichai has welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US Silicon Valley with an upbeat 2 minute message on YouTube
"It is an honour to welcome PM Narendra Modi to Silicon Valley this weekend" Pichai said, "There is tremendous excitement among Googlers, for (his) visit."
"The bond between India and the Silicon Valley is strong. India has long been an exporter of talent to tech companies. The products built by Indian graduates from IIT and other institutions have helped revolutionise the world. But it is India that is now undergoing its own revolution," Pichai said in the YouTube video.
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"We're looking forward to your remarks at the SAP Centre in San Jose, and also when you come to Google… We hope your visit will energise people in the Valley, excite Indians all across the country, and renew and strengthen our partnership," Pichai added.
" We at Google are passionate about playing our part...Some of our initiatives include making our products work on low bandwidth and even offline, making the Web accessible in Indic language, providing low-cost Chromebooks in Indian schools, investing in core infrastructure and affordable smartphone with Android One."
"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....Prime Minister Modi's Digital India vision is central to this revolution. It focuses on connecting the 1.2 billion people in India. It has received tremendous support in India and in Silicon Valley."
In addition to visiting Google, Modi is also scheduled to meet Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and address a townhall question and answer session on September 27 at the company's headquarters in California. Hewill likely also meet Apple CEO Tim Cook and electric carmaker Tesla's CEO Elon Musk