PM Modi and Google CEO Sundar Pichai hold virtual meeting to discuss 'new work culture'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 13 interacted with Google Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai and spoke on a wide range of subjects. PM Modi took to Twitter to announce that they held discussions "particularly leveraging the power of technology to transform the lives of India’s farmers, youngsters and entrepreneurs." The virtual meeting focused on improving the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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PM Modi and Google CEO spoke about "the new work culture" emerging in the unprecedented times of coronavirus. As the global pandemic has brought a number of challenges to the whole world, PM Modi and Pichai discussed the impact of COVID-19 and the challenges brought to "areas such as sports." Considering that there has been increasing concerns over data privacy and online security, owing to which the government of India also banned as many as 59 Chinese apps last month, the two held discussions on data security and cyber safety.

Further PM Modi also hailed Google's efforts in various sectors including education, learning, digital India etc. India has been focusing on going digital and PM Modi has been encouraging citizens to embrace digital payments to go paperless. "I was delighted to know more about the efforts of Google in several sectors, be it in education, learning, Digital India, furthering digital payments and more," PM Modi wrote in his tweet.

The Google CEO replied to PM Modi's tweet thanking him for his time. He further expressed excitement to continue work towards Digital India. Pichai added that the company will share the next steps during Google for India events.

Google for India event

Pichai held a virtual meeting with the PM on July 13 morning and discussed economic opportunities during COVID-19. The main focus reportedly was on attracting FDI into India and the role of technology giants in economic growth. Meanwhile, Pichai and Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will address the sixth annual Google for India event today. During the virtual event, new announcements on initiatives for Digital India are likely to be announced. The event will be attended by top executives, including Google India Country Head and Vice President Sanjay Gupta, Google Vice President Payments and Next Billion Users Caesar Sengupta and Google Senior Country Marketing Director India and Southeast Asia Sapna Chadha.

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"At the 6th edition of Google For India, our product & business leaders will share their vision on building a helpful Internet for a billion Indians," Google announced. 

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