Microsoft CEO meets Modi, keen on 'Make in India'

New Delhi: Global software leader Microsoft’s chief executive officer, Indian-born Satya Nadella, aspires to empower every Indian to use the latest digital technologies and has pledged his support to the government’s Digital India and ‘Make in India’ campaigns.

Nadella, son of a retired IAS officer and currently in India on a vacation, made the most of his visit by meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, finance minister Arun Jaitley, communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and other senior government officials on Friday.

“In every meeting, of course, both ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ are top of mind and for us, top of mind in terms of our contribution to India,” Nadella said after his meeting with Jaitley.

A mobile and cloud (Internet)-connected world can empower every individual citizen, business organisation and institution in India, he added. “So, I am looking forward to be a part of both the Digital India and ‘Make in India’,” Nadella said.

“I have requested him to consider electronic manufacturing in India. I have also requested that Microsoft, which has a great profile in the field of social services, digital literacy can promote it in India. We had a very purposeful exchange,” Prasad said after meeting Nadella.

The Hyderabad-born CEO also highlighted that the company is making huge investments in its data centres, the capacity of which could be expanded, depending on the requirement.

Microsoft is keen on collaborating with the government in providing last mile internet connectivity, especially through the wi-fi technology, a government statement said. Technologies of interest to Microsoft includes the white space technology that can be used to provide wi-fi with speeds upto 16 mega bits per second (16 Mbps) in public places. It is being mainly used by state broadcaster Doordarshan.

This was Nadella’s second visit to India after taking over as the global CEO of the technology giant earlier this year.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.