 "Modi woos Silicon Valley giants")
Wooing Silicon Valley majors such as Google, Facebook and Tesla to invest in India’s digital infrastructure and tap into the vast market, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this digital age offered an opportunity to transform the lives of India’s poor in a way hard to imagine a couple of decades earlier.
“So, from creating infrastructure to services, from manufacture of products to human resource development, from supporting governments to enabling citizens and promoting digital literacy, Digital India is a vast cyber world of opportunities for you,” said Modi, at the Digital India Dinner at San Jose, California, on Sunday morning, India time.
“The task is huge; the challenges are many. But, we also know that we will not reach new destinations without taking new roads. Much of India that we dream of is yet to be built. We have the opportunity to shape its path now (and) the talent, enterprise and skills to succeed.”
“Great discussion about solar/batteries (and) empowering rural communities,” tweeted Elon Musk, founder of Tesla. “Enjoyed discussion (with Musk) on how battery technology can help farmers,” tweeted Modi.
The PM talked of India’s plan to provide broadband services to all villages and mentioned that Google was helping to set up Wi-Fi internet access shortly in 500 railway stations in India. Microsoft said it planned to replicate a technology it was piloting in Varanasi to offer broadband using the white space in television spectrum to Indian villages. Qualcomm, which builds chipsets to power mobile phones, will create a $150 million fund for Indian start-ups.
“We believe low-cost broadband connectivity, coupled with the scale of cloud computing and the intelligence that can be harnessed from data, can help drive creativity, efficiency and productivity across governments and businesses of all size,” said Nadella at the Digital India Dinner at San Jose.
John Chambers, chairman of Cisco Systems and chairman of the US India Business council, said digital manufacturing was set to create millions of jobs every month in India. Google’s Pichai announced the search giant would allow users from next month to type in 10 Indian languages on its Android platform.
“He (Modi) understands the technology is the enabler to drive change in massive scale and India needs that change,” said Pichai, while lauding Indian start-ups such as Flipkart, Zomato, Hike and Snapdeal for generating thousands of jobs and being “global success stories”.
Calling India the fasting growing “start-up nation” in the world, Chennai-born Pichai recalled interacting with entrepreneurs in India last year, whom he termed “hungry entrepreneurs, the same type I meet in the Valley”. “With so many Indians coming online in unprecedented scale, it is very clear to me that this is once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Pichai.
Modi, in his speech, mentioned the presence of these Silicon Valley honchos as the perfect picture of "India-US partnership in the digital economy”.
“If there was ever a gathering under one roof that could claim to be shaping the world, it is this,” said Modi, while asserting that social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were the new “neighbourhoods of our new world”.
“So, from creating infrastructure to services, from manufacture of products to human resource development, from supporting governments to enabling citizens and promoting digital literacy, Digital India is a vast cyber world of opportunities for you,” said Modi, at the Digital India Dinner at San Jose, California, on Sunday morning, India time.
“The task is huge; the challenges are many. But, we also know that we will not reach new destinations without taking new roads. Much of India that we dream of is yet to be built. We have the opportunity to shape its path now (and) the talent, enterprise and skills to succeed.”
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Modi met the India-born chief executives of Google, Microsoft and Adobe Systems — Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella and Shantanu Narayen. Beside visiting Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple. The key visit by Modi was to Tesla, the electric car maker that is building the world’s largest factory for batteries to store power — he discussed bringing Tesla’s technology to help build India’s renewable energy sector.
“Great discussion about solar/batteries (and) empowering rural communities,” tweeted Elon Musk, founder of Tesla. “Enjoyed discussion (with Musk) on how battery technology can help farmers,” tweeted Modi.
The PM talked of India’s plan to provide broadband services to all villages and mentioned that Google was helping to set up Wi-Fi internet access shortly in 500 railway stations in India. Microsoft said it planned to replicate a technology it was piloting in Varanasi to offer broadband using the white space in television spectrum to Indian villages. Qualcomm, which builds chipsets to power mobile phones, will create a $150 million fund for Indian start-ups.
“We believe low-cost broadband connectivity, coupled with the scale of cloud computing and the intelligence that can be harnessed from data, can help drive creativity, efficiency and productivity across governments and businesses of all size,” said Nadella at the Digital India Dinner at San Jose.
John Chambers, chairman of Cisco Systems and chairman of the US India Business council, said digital manufacturing was set to create millions of jobs every month in India. Google’s Pichai announced the search giant would allow users from next month to type in 10 Indian languages on its Android platform.
“He (Modi) understands the technology is the enabler to drive change in massive scale and India needs that change,” said Pichai, while lauding Indian start-ups such as Flipkart, Zomato, Hike and Snapdeal for generating thousands of jobs and being “global success stories”.
Calling India the fasting growing “start-up nation” in the world, Chennai-born Pichai recalled interacting with entrepreneurs in India last year, whom he termed “hungry entrepreneurs, the same type I meet in the Valley”. “With so many Indians coming online in unprecedented scale, it is very clear to me that this is once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Pichai.
Modi, in his speech, mentioned the presence of these Silicon Valley honchos as the perfect picture of "India-US partnership in the digital economy”.
“If there was ever a gathering under one roof that could claim to be shaping the world, it is this,” said Modi, while asserting that social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were the new “neighbourhoods of our new world”.