India's envoy to US presents Google CEO Sundar Pichai with Padma Bhushan

Google CEO Sundar Pichai, after receiving Padma Bhushan award, said, "I want to thank Ambassador Sandhu and Consul General Prasad for hosting me to receive the Padma Bhushan. I am deeply grateful to the Indian government and the people of India for this immense honour. It is incredibly meaningful to be honoured in this way by the country that shaped me."

Pic courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: India`s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu presented the Padma Bhushan, one of the country`s highest civilian Awards, to Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai in San Fransisco on behalf of Indian Government. Sandhu, took to Twitter, to express his emotions and tweeted, "Delighted to hand over Padma Bhushan to CEO @Google& Alphabet @sundarpichai in San Francisco. Sundar`s inspirational journey from #Madurai to Mountain View, strengthening India-US economic and technology ties, reaffirms Indian talent`s contribution to global innovation.”

Delighted to hand over Padma Bhushan to Google CEO Sundar Pichai in San Francisco. His inspirational journey from Madurai to Mountain View, strengthening India-America economic & tech. ties, reaffirms Indian talent’s contribution to global innovation: Ambassador Taranjit S Sandhu pic.twitter.com/fxiSouYrIk

— ANI (@ANI) December 3, 2022

On the eve of the 73rd Republic Day, the Ministry of Home Affairs had announced that Sundar Pichai would be awarded with Padma Bhushan.

Pichai, after receiving the honor, said, "I want to thank Ambassador Sandhu and Consul General Prasad for hosting me to receive the Padma Bhushan. I am deeply grateful to the Indian government and the people of India for this immense honour. It is incredibly meaningful to be honoured in this way by the country that shaped me."

"India is a part of me. I carry it with me wherever I go. (Unlike this beautiful award which I will keep somewhere safe)," he added.

Google CEO mentioned how fortunate he is to grow up in a family that treasured learning and knowledge. He also thanked his parents saying that they sacrificed a lot to ensure that he had “opportunities to explore his interests”.

He also appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s Digital India vision saying that “Digital India`s vision has certainly been an accelerator for that progress.”

He added, “We recently announced that we`ll be investing USD 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 tackle big societal challenges," Google CEO said.

He further stated, "We`re also investing deeply in digital skilling, and have trained over 1 million women through our WomenWill Entrepreneurship Program and over 55,000 teachers in partnership with the government and local organizations. We`ve also sponsored over 100,000 Google Career Certificate sponsorships in collaboration with the NASSCOM Foundation and Tata Strive."

Pichai, while talking about the languages in google translate, also said that 8 out of 24 are languages local to India which makes it easy for them to access information and knowledge in their preferred language.”