Terming himself as an “India optimist”, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said he hoped the country of his birth continued to be a “progressive democracy“.
In an exclusive interview with ET, the 52-year-old leader of the world’s third-most valuable company said it is the people and governments that decide on policies such as immigration and national security.
“I mostly speak from being someone who grew up here, and (is) proud of my heritage of a multicultural India and as an immigrant,” Nadella said in a wide-ranging discussion. “This is what is true about India today and I am very confident that it will be true of India in the future.”
Cautioning Indian policymakers on the perils of over-regulation, Nadella said the American company would conform to India’s privacy policy when it is implemented. But “policymakers (should) always think through what it means for citizens – for Indian society – (and) also for Indian entrepreneurs.”
Earlier on Monday, Microsoft and Reliance Industries announced a “deep partnership” that the companies said would be a defining one for the coming decade.
“Fundamentally, they have really bet on our platform,” Nadella said. RIL will use various Microsoft products as well as the cloud infrastructure created by the Redmond-based technology firm to offer services to small and medium enterprises.
“The big thing is to give them the technology and help them realize their ambitions,” said Nadella, one of two India-born CEOs leading global technology companies that have market capitalisation of over $1 trillion.
Since his ascension to the top post in 2014, Nadella has led a dramatic transformation of Microsoft, now valued at $1,274 billion.
Drawing inspiration from what he called the “social contract of a corporation”, Nadella said he aims to find profitable solutions to the challenges of people across the planet. “If you just celebrate your own market cap and you don’t see success broadly around the world, then that market cap is going to be very transitory,” he said.
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