Inspiring to see govt’s focus on growth led by digital transformation: Nadella on meeting with PM Modi

Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive of Microsoft, said that it is “inspiring to see the (Indian) government’s deep focus on sustainable and inclusive economic growth,” following his meeting with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Nadella is in India on a four-day visit to meet government officials, clients and members of the technology industry.

“We are looking forward to helping India realise the Digital India vision and be a light for the world,” the top executive said in a LinkedIn post.

Following the meeting, Modi tweeted on the meeting, stating, "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."

Union IT minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, also met Nadella during his visit. In a tweet, Vaishnaw said that he "had a good discussion with Satya Nadella on cyber security, India stack, and India's startup ecosystem."

Nadella has highlighted India’s leadership role in the present technology landscape, during his keynotes across the country. “One of the things that is great to see is India leading in digital public goods. There is India, and then there is daylight, when it comes to the enlightened way in which India is building out digital infrastructure,” he said during his keynote in Mumbai on Tuesday.

The third chief executive in Microsoft’s 47-year history, Nadella, during his trip, has highlighted the role of India in the global tech economy for the coming years. In an interview with Mint on January 4, the executive said, “One of the things that give me great optimism for India, quite frankly, is all the different ways in which technology is getting used… India already has the second largest number of developers, and is No.1 on AI repositories, which means Indian developers are seeking out every open-source AI repository and becoming core committers. So, in the long run, there will be a lot more intense use of AI. One of the things that you should talk about, even in India, is the intense use of new technology.”

During his visit, Nadella also highlighted increasing investments that Microsoft is making in cloud infrastructure, and the role that new generation artificial intelligence-based tools such as ChatGPT or Dall-E can play in transforming the way we use technology.  He also highlighted the growing importance of hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures, as more and more businesses digitise their services.