Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on day two of his three-day visit to the US, interacted with industry leaders to discuss the potential and opportunities India has to offer to the world.
The roundtable hosted by PM Modi included several prominent figures from leading companies, including Shantanu Narayen, Chairman, President, and CEO of Adobe; Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO; Arvind Krishna, IBM’s COE; Lisa Su, CEO of AMD; and Jensen Huang of NVIDIA.
The prime minister discussed ways to foster greater collaboration between the US and India regarding the cutting-edge areas of Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors and biotechnology.
“Protecting Intellectual Properties”
PM Narendra Modi said, “We aim to create 85,000 technicians, engineers and research and development experts in the next 1-2 years. India has a 20% stake in semiconductor design, and we have started the ‘Design in India’ initiative. India has a strong legal framework for protecting intellectual property rights. The new data protection law will help you a lot. I am also putting a lot of stress on data governance. India is one of the first countries to make an AI strategy. India is committed to the responsible and ethical use of AI (artificial intelligence). In the G20 meeting, ethical use of AI was the main agenda. As the aviation sector has become global governance, a digital governance model needs to be set up. To prevent deepfake, a watermark should appear so that the public can identify a deepfake video. I am hopeful that you can contribute a lot to it.”
In a social media post on ‘X’, PM Modi said, “Had a fruitful roundtable with tech CEOs in New York, discussing aspects relating to technology, innovation and more. Also highlighted the strides made by India in this field. I am glad to see immense optimism towards India”.
“BIO E3 Policy”
PM Modi outlined his government’s plans to turn India into a global hub for semiconductor manufacturing and mentioned the BIO E3 policy, which aims to make India a biotech powerhouse. “Today, India is rapidly emerging as a global biotech powerhouse. There are possibilities for affordable research, and affordable manufacturing in India. The BioSecure Act aims to address capacity gaps, and India can fulfil this in a trusted and efficient manner. To boost bio-manufacturing, we have introduced the ‘Bio E3 policy’. It is a futuristic policy. E3 stands for Biotechnology for Economy, Employment, and Environment. By 2025, I see a possibility of more than 10,000 bio-startups emerging in India. We aim to become a leader in providing solutions for health security and other global challenges. India is building infrastructure with the pro-planet people approach.”
The CEOs responded positively, expressing strong interest in increasing investments and collaborations with India. They recognised India’s growing role as a global technology hub, driven by its favourable policies, thriving market, and growing talent pool.
“He Has Clear Vision”
#WATCH | New York, USA: After the roundtable meeting of prominent CEOs of Tech Companies with PM Narendra Modi, Google CEO Sundar Pichai says, “The PM has been focussed on transforming India. It is Digital India vision. He pushed us to continue making in India, designing in… pic.twitter.com/kF2XwV5X2F
— ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2024
After the roundtable meeting, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said, “The PM has been focussed on transforming India. It is Digital India vision. He pushed us to continue making in India, designing in India. We are proud to now make our Pixel phones manufactured in India. He is really thinking about how AI can transform India in a way that benefits the people of India. He challenged us to think about applications in healthcare, education, and agriculture, and he is also thinking about the infrastructure of India – be it data centres, power, energy and investment to make sure that India can transition. And we are proud to be partnering with India. We are robustly investing in AI in India and we look forward to doing more. We have set several programmes and partnerships. He has always challenged all of us to do more, more for India. Now, he is asking us to do the same with AI. He has a clear vision, both in terms of the opportunity that AI will create, but he wants to make sure ultimately, AI is there to benefit the people of India, and he has a clear vision that it should all be in the service of the people of India. He is challenging us to do more.”
“PM Is a Bright Man”
Holtec International CEO Krishna Singh spoke about his interaction with the prime minister and said, “The PM said to me that he wants to make India energy independent, he wants to rapidly grow clean energy in the country, and the meeting was for clean energy. I explained to him that the existing coal plants can be converted into our small modular reactors, the capacity at the plant will be increased by a factor of 3. PM is a very bright man. He understands the issue, understands the challenges and I think that he gets it.”
#WATCH | New York, USA: After the roundtable meeting of prominent CEOs of Tech Companies with PM Narendra Modi, Holtec International CEO Kris Singh says, “PM said to me that he wants to make India energy independent, he wants to rapidly grow clean energy in the country and the… pic.twitter.com/ID7lXk7ztS
— ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2024
The CEOs shared insights into how their companies are leveraging technology for innovation and expressed keen interest in collaborating with India. PM Modi also emphasised the importance of initiatives such as the India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (ICET) as central to the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.
He highlighted that technology cooperation between India and the United States could drive mutual benefits and growth.
