To push Microsoft’s India conquest, PIO CEO Nadella meets PM

The India-born CEO, who is on his third visit to his home country since taking over as Microsoft head in February 2014, met Minister of Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha as well as many industry leaders and developers here.

“Discussed various issues pertaining to the IT sector with @Microsoft CEO @satyanadella @MicrosoftIndia,” Modi tweeted after the meeting. Details of the discussions were, however, not disclosed.

Nadella’s visit comes close on the heels of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s four-day tour of India. During his visit, Cook had met Modi as well as business leaders like ICICI MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry and Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal. Both Nadella and Cook have offered support to various government’s initiatives like Digital India and Startup India.

Earlier in the day, Nadella discussed with Prasad how Microsoft’s contribution to the government’s Digital India initiative can be enhanced. “CEO @Microsoft @satyanadella met me today. Discussed enhancing cooperation with Microsoft towards @_DigitalIndia,” the minister said in a tweet after the meeting. According to sources, the meeting revolved around open source policy, engagement of Microsoft for linking Skype and Aadhaar and enhanced cooperation for cloud services in the government sector.

The Hyderabad-born Nadella also attended a meeting with industry executives organised by industry body CII. The session was attended by leaders like Intel V-P Sales and Marketing and South Asia MD Debjani Ghosh, IL&FS Chairman Ravi Parthasarathy, Wipro President and COO Bhanumurthy BM and NIIT CEO Rahul Patwardhan.

Nadella had visited India, which is among one of the largest R&D bases for the company, in December last year. He had visited Mumbai and incubation centre T-Hub in Hyderabad. Earlier in the day,  India-born CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella said developers and entrepreneurs from India are playing a key role in driving innovation -- both in the country and outside -- and the company wants to be the platform for creators here.

Nadella, on a one-day trip to India met Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad as well as student developers and entrepreneurs this morning. “It’s so inspiring for me to come here to see this broad spectrum of student developers, entrepreneurs, artists and even some big brands, e-commerce companies who are all changing the landscape of India and thereby, the world,” Nadella said while delivering keynote address at Microsoft’s ‘Tech For Good, Ideas for India’ event. He added that it is a “privilege” to be “a platform underneath this Indian success”.

“Our mission is to empower every person and organisation on the planet to achieve more. It’s not about celebrating our technologies. It’s about celebrating technologies that you all in India create. In fact, I want us to be the platform creators that foster ingenuity of what is happening in India,” he said.

This is Nadella’s third visit to the country since he took over as Microsoft CEO in February 2014. In December, he was in Mumbai and had also visited T-Hub in Hyderabad. Nadella quoted poet Mirza Ghalib’s famous lines, “Hazaaron khwahishen aisi ke har khwahish pe dam nikle, Bahut niklay mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle” and encouraged youngsters in the audience to be bold and ambitious. 

“I learn something new... there are so many layers there... My interpretation of that is... it’s not just your dreams being fulfilled, it is your ability to dream that is worth dying for. It is a source of inspiration,” he said. Talking about the changing landscape of technology, Nadella said the “idea of conversations as a platform” is a transformative change in computing. “When you change the way you see the world, you change the world you see,” Nadella added. Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, who was also present at the event, said technology is a platform of growth for India. 

“If you innovate in India for India, you are going to be able to innovate for the world and India then can become the entrepreneurial engine for the next 6 billion people on the planet just like the US is the entrepreneurial engine for the top one billion people... That’s the opportunity we have, and that is India’s economic future,” he stressed.