Sundar Pichai, the Indian CEO of the world's most popular search engine, Google, was presented with a Padma Bhushan Award on December 2, 2022. For those who didn't know, Pichai joined Google back in 2004 as a product manager for Google Toolbar, a product that turned out to be critical for the company. To recall, Pichai was named the company's Chief Executive Officer in 2015, i.e., seven years ago.
In an official blog post, the Google CEO writes, "I want to thank Ambassador Sandhu and Consul General Prasad for hosting me to receive the Padma Bhushan." Adding to it, Pichai says, "I am deeply grateful to the Indian government and the people of India for this immense honour." Padma Bhushan is India's third-highest civilian award, and Pichai got it for bringing immense changes in trade and industry.
In the blog post, Pichai talks about how he grew up in a family that cherished learning and knowledge. He also mentions that the rapid pace of technological change in India amazes him, praising the Indian Prime Minister's Digital India vision. Google has recently announced that it will invest $10 billion in India's digital future, "working to enable more affordable internet access, building products for India's unique needs, helping businesses of all sizes in their digital transformation, and using AI to table big societal changes."
The rest of the blog post talks about the company's contributions towards helping people access knowledge and opportunity, adding new languages to Google Translate to lessen the barriers among people, and Google Maps, which helps connect customers with small businesses. Sundar received the Padma Bhushan award in the presence of family members in San Francisco.
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