New Delhi/Bengaluru:Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India's strides in technology and innovation are ushering in an era of tech-led growth, following his meeting with Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella.
On a four-day visit to India, Nadella met Modi and pledged the company's support in helping the country realise the Digital India vision. "Glad to have met you Satya Nadella. India's strides in technology and innovation are ushering in an era of tech-led growth. Our youth is filled with ideas which have the potential to transform the planet," the prime minister said in a tweet.
The Microsoft top honcho described his meeting with Modi as "insightful" and lauded the government's deep focus on sustainable and inclusive economic growth, driven by a digital transformation.
"It's inspiring to see the government's deep focus on sustainable and inclusive economic growth led by digital transformation and we're looking forward to helping India realise the Digital India vision and be a light for the world," Nadella said.
Earlier, briefing the media after the Future Ready Technology summit in Bengaluru, Nadella said "India is taking the leap to contribute both in the digital technology as well as the soft side of it--the policy side of it, as to how this came about."
"That story needs to be written about, talked about so that everyone else in the world can also benefit from it. I think India's leadership of the G20 is obviously a great moment for that. And we at Microsoft want to be as helpful as possible in amplifying what is essentially the output of India," he said.
India, he said, has created a "virtuous cycle of digital public goods that raises the bar on private enterprises, increases competition, reduces transaction costs for the citizens of the country and a set of governance, principles and policies that reinforces all of these." "Whether it is about financial inclusion or whether it is about anything else. And so I feel this is India's moment," he added.
Also read: Nadella advocates use of tech for driving inclusivity, empowerment; says Microsoft very committed to India
Talking about Microsoft's India focus, Nadella said it was the second largest place where the company has its own employees, while there are lots of others who are contributing to the ecosystem in the country. "More importantly we are investing in the capital in India in building up data centres. We got a fourth one coming up.
These are massive investments growing rapidly. We are no longer just a software company, we are a full systems company which is very capital-intensive. These data centres are the modern day digital factories and we are making them in India. And we are making them in India so that others can make them in India," Nadella said.
Indicating Microsoft's range of collaborative investments in India, Nadella said "whether it is a small business or a public sector project developing state-of-the-art AI, whether it is the largest conglomerates, like the Tatas, Jios or the Adanis using this to scale employment, whether it is SBI or HDFC or any bank using it...not just making in India for India but making in India for the world."
Indians have taken the first and second space in development and AI space going by usage on the platforms owned by Microsoft. "When I think about the future of technology, clearly AI is the trend that we are going to be talking about for years to come...the real thing is not the technology breakthrough but it is the technology as applied to real things that have impact."
"In GitHub (a Microsoft cloud-based software platform) India is already number two in the development community and it is number one in terms of the AI RePose, which means already the Indian developers are reaching out and saying that they want to be part of the AI movement," Nadella pointed out.
The Microsoft CEO said India could probably be among the top 10 countries in the world going by its GDP to tech-spend ratio, according to Microsoft's data.Responding to a question on Microsoft's future in helping the Indian economy, Nadella said "there is overall economy, economic growth and there is tech spend. That gap is bridging. India's tech spend as a percentage of GDP is now becoming normalised with the developing world."
"India (In GDP to tech spend) is sort of definitely in the top ten in the world at least in our data. If that is the case, then the question is what is next. What is the output of that tech spend. Is it the same," he said while briefing the media after the Future Ready Tech Summit here.
Delving into Microsoft's role in India's growing tech spend, he said "...if India has a GDP of X and a percentage of that is what is the productivity gain from that (tech spend), that then the world can benefit from...is the way for people to think about, write about... lowest cost transactions for payment."
