Pichai receives Indian honour

GOOGLE and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai (above) paid tribute to his homeland as he received the Indian government’s third-highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan award, from the Indian ambassador to the US.

Indian American Pichai, who was born in Madurai in Tamil Nadu state, was awarded the Padma Bhushan for 2022 in the trade and industry category. He received award in the presence of his close family members in San Francisco last Friday (2).

“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,” Pichai, 50, said, while accepting the award from India’s ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

“India is a part of me. I carry it with me wherever I go,” he said. “I was fortunate to grow up in a family that cherished learning and knowledge, with parents who sacrificed a lot to make sure I had opportunities to explore my interests,” Google’s Pichai said.

Sandhu said that Pichai represented the “limitless possibilities of technology for transformation”.

“He has been making commendable efforts towards making digital tools, and skills accessible to across various segments of the society in different parts of the globe,” the ambassador added.

Recalling India’s prime minister Narendra Modi’s vision of technology that combines 3Ss speed, simplicity and service, Sandhu hoped that Google’s vision would align with that of the digital revolution taking place in India.