'WE WILL INVEST MORE IN INDIA AND FROM INDIA TO THE WORLD'

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, talks about innovation in tough times, the tech meltdown, immersive technologies and the tech giant's plans for India

- BY SOURAV MAJUMDAR AND KRISHNA GOPALAN

It is a Sunday night in San Francisco and Sundar Pichai is all set for a chat. As CEO of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary, Google, he runs a business with $258 billion in revenues. However, it’s not all work for this 50-year-old cricket buff as he laments India’s exit at the Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. He reiterates that nothing will stop him from being in India for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. “I plan to be there,” he quips. In an exclusive interview over Google Meet with Business Today’s Sourav Majumdar and Krishna Gopalan, Pichai speaks candidly on a host of issues related to Search, Cloud, technological disruption, YouTube, regulation and, of course, India. Edited excerpts:

We are in a VUCA world and this is coupled with a possible global economic crisis. How do you see this scenario playing out from your perspective? It is an extraordinary time of uncertainty and I think the focus from central banks in handling both inflation and rising interest rates defines it to some extent. Like any other large global company, we are dependent on GDP growth and there is obviously caution. From my standpoint, you need to focus on things that are in your control. That means looking at our core priorities and approaching our work more efficiently.

That said, we must make sure our products are working, including what we offer to our advertisers, since they are trying to be more efficient with their spends. In moments like these, the strength of Search is important in terms of being more effective as a product. Over time, we are also investing in AI to make some of our products work even better for advertisers. It really comes down to making it simpler and in line with their budgets.