Modi in US: Excited about July 1, the GST rollout day, says Google's Pichai

"Everyone is excited to invest more in India," said the Google CEO

After attending the CEOs roundtable conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said here that the former was focused on getting insights on how to attract more foreign investment.

"It (the conference) was a discussion across many industries and I think the Prime Minister was looking for insights into how India can attract more foreign investment," Pichai told ANI in an exclusive interview.

He added that good ideas were discussed regarding the same and that everyone was looking forward to invest more in India.

"I think there were many good ideas discussed and I think everyone is excited to invest more in India and I'm excited about what we all can do together," said the Google CEO.

Commenting on the upcoming rollout of Good and Services Tax (GST), Pichai said, "We are all looking forward to the July 1st roll out. I know it has been a very difficult thing to do so I'm excited to see it happen. Shows that you can achieve reform by pushing hard for it and I hope it is just the beginning."

GST is India's biggest and most ambitious tax reform that is being rolled out in hope that it will shore up tax revenues, cool inflation and accelerate growth.

When implied it will tear down trade barriers by replacing 15 different central and state levies. The government has assured that the reform will not be inflationary.

At the conference with the business honchos, the Prime Minister stressed that the whole world is looking at India today adding that growth for New Delhi also presents a win-win partnership for the United States.

The Indian Government so far has carried out about 7,000 reforms for ease of doing business in the country and provide for minimum government, maximum governance.

"The implementation of the landmark initiative of GST could be a subject of studies in US business schools," said the Prime Minister.

The CEO's in presence included -

1. Shantanu Narayen, Chairman, President & CEO, Adobe

2. Jeff Bezos, Founder & CEO, Amazon

3. Jim Taiclet, Chairman, President & CEO, American Tower Corporation

4. Tim Cook, CEO, Apple

5. Jim Umpleby, CEO, Caterpillar

6. John Chambers, Executive Chairman, Cisco

7. Punit Renjen, Global CEO, Deloitte

8. David Farr, Chairman & CEO, Emerson

9. Mark Weinberger, CEO, Ernst & Young

10. Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google

11. Alex Gorsky, Chairman & CEO, Johnson & Johnson

12. Jamie Dimon, CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co.

13. Marillyn Hewson, Chairman, President & CEO, Lockheed Martin

14. Arne Sorenson, President & CEO, Marriott International

15. Ajay Banga, President & CEO, Mastercard

16. Irene Rosenfeld, Chairman & CEO, Mondelez International

17. David Rubenstein, Co-founder & Co-CEO, The Carlyle Group

18. Doug McMillon, President & CEO, Walmart

19. Charles Kaye, Co-CEO, Warburg Pincus

20. Daniel Yergin, Vice Chairman, IHS Markit

21. Mukesh Aghi, President, USIBC

Prime Minister Modi who touched down the Andrews Air Force base in Washington yesterday is on a bilateral visit to meet U.S. President Donald Trump.