Sundar Pichai | Global Indian | Indian CEO

Global IndianstoryIndian-origin Google CEO Sundar Pichai receives Padma Bhushan

Indian-origin Google CEO Sundar Pichai receives Padma Bhushan

Written by: Amrita Priya

(December 4, 2022) “India is a part of me and I carry it with me wherever I go,” Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said after receiving the Padma Bhushan award from the Indian envoy to the US. The Indian-origin CEO is among the 17 others who have been bestowed with India’s third-highest civilian award. “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,” added the 50-year-old while accepting the award from Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

Sundar Pichai received Padma Bhushan award

The CEO of tech giant Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc hardly needs any introduction. In the last 18 years with the Google, Sundar has contributed immensely to the trade and industry sector, thus making his mark. Interestingly, the email service provided by Google, Gmail, was launched on the very day Pichai joined the company – April 1, 2004. Unaware of this new product, he admitted his ignorance in the job interview of the organisation. Luckily for Pichai, that moment of uncertainty got viewed as one of the qualities that Laszlo Bock, Google’s former senior VP of people operations was looking for in a candidate. Bock remembers Sundar Pichai as the candidate with “intellectual humility”. Today, Pichai’s meteoric rise from humble beginnings to a top CEO is a success story that people cherish globally.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO

The first non-white CEO of Google also serves on Alphabet’s Board of Directors. He has been focused on developing products and services with the vision to be of value in all big and little moments of people’s lives.

Talking at Google’s flagship I/O Developers Conference 2022, Pichai informed:

“Throughout the pandemic, Google has focused on delivering accurate information to help people stay healthy. Over the last year, people used Google Search and Maps to find where they could get a COVID vaccine nearly two billion times!”

His zeal for leadership with purpose got recognised in India in the form of Padma Bhushan award 2022. Global Indian turns its spotlight on the journey of the man who inspires millions.

The academic flight

Ironically, the CEO of American multinational technology company has not studied computer science, rather metallurgical engineering from IIT Kharagpur. Coincidentally, he has also studied inside the campus of IIT Chennai. His school, Vana Vani happened to be located inside the sprawling Chennai campus.

Sundar Pichai interacting with IIT Kharagpur students in one of his India visits.

Born in 1972, he was raised in a middle-class household by an electrical engineer father who worked at General Electric Company (GEC) and a stenographer mother. Interested in the world of engineering, he was keen to explore the field, and he did so when he enrolled in the IIT Kharagpur. The passion for material sciences and engineering later took to Stanford University for a master’s degree and then to Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for an MBA. But making that first trip to the US wasn’t that easy for someone who came from a humble background. His father had to spend a year’s salary to buy a plane ticket for him to go to the US for his studies. That was Sundar’s first flight journey. The sincere student did not let his parents down and got recognised in his foreign academic institutions as one of the best in the batch.

Foundation of the effervescent leader

Before his association with Google, Pichai worked at Allied Materials and McKinsey & Co. Though both the organisations specialised in metallurgy, the stints groomed him well. He picked up the nuances of product strategy, execution, and team building that eventually set the foundation for his pivotal beginnings at Google. Pichai nurtured his career by aligning it to Google’s success.

“We try to work on things that billions of people will use every day”

No wonder Google is part of everyday conversations and happens to be a significant part of the vocabulary of kids and adults alike across the world!

Sundar Pichai with Nigerian Google team during his visit to Africa

It has established itself as the organisation that cares with breakthroughs like use of machine learning (ML) to make web images more accessible to people who have vision problems. It generates real-time captions for online videos to help those who struggle with hearing.

Rise and rise of Google under Pichai’s leadership

Sundar Pichai joined Google as its vice-president of product management. He was entrusted with the responsibility of development of Google Toolbar and Google Chrome. These went on to become the world’s most popular internet browser. Undoubtedly, with these quantum leaps, Sundar Pichai climbed the hierarchical ladder. He launched Chrome OS and Chromebook in 2011 and went on to launch Android operating system in 2013. By 2014, the super talented Indian-origin professional was leading all products and engineering divisions at Google, overseeing vital platforms like Search, Gmail, Chrome, Play, Android, Maps, and Google Workspace.

From Left to right : Larry Page (Google’s co-founder), Sundar Pichai (Google’s CEO), Narendra Modi (India’s PM), Eric Schmidt (Google’s former CEO), and Ram Shriram (American businessman)

When Google reorganised into Alphabet in August 2015, Sundar Pichai got selected as its CEO. In December 2019, he became the CEO of both Google and Alphabet, replacing founder Larry Page. In 2021, under Pichai’s leadership, Alphabet crossed $2 trillion in market value due to sales and profit growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Building impact with powerful breakthroughs

Bringing the world together through different platforms, and giving unique experiences to people has always been the core of what Sundar Pichai and his team thrive upon.

While talking about war drift Ukrainians at Google I/O Developers Conference 2022, he remarked:

“In countries around the world, Google Translate has been a crucial tool for newcomers and residents trying to communicate with one another. We’re proud of how it’s helping Ukrainians find a bit of hope and connection (in countries where they have taken refuge) until they are able to return home again.”

While many other technology giants embrace the metaverse as the next frontier of growth, Sundar Pichai sees Google’s future in its oldest offering – the Internet search. He foresees people asking computers more questions with voice and multimodal experiences.

From overseeing new investments like acquisition of YouTube and launching of Google Cloud, Pichai leads the organisation by advancing AI, digital technology, machine learning and quantum computing.

“AI can make humans more productive than we ever imagined,” he remarked in the conference stressing that it can play a foundational role in every aspect of people’s lives, right from healthcare, education, manufacturing to how people consume information. Emphasizing on the significance of ML he said, “When machines would be programmed to simulate human mind, mimic human activity and solve problems, it will have a bigger impact than most of the breakthroughs in recent history.”

Matters close to heart…

Keeping India close to his heart, Pichai has led Google to invest in the foundational infrastructure of the country by developing technology specific to its needs. Google Pay app is one such example. “India will be a global player in the digital economy,” he concluded in an interview.

In a statement, the California-headquartered company has mentioned that it will invest ₹109 crore to support healthcare facilities and a further ₹3.6 crore to upskill frontline workers in India. The tech giant has entered into a tie-up with NGOs like GiveIndia, ARMMAN, PATH and Apollo Medskills to fulfill these commitments.

In the last five years, Google has granted funds to the tune of $57 million to India. Out of this $18 million was part of Covid 19 response.  In April 2020, Pichai made personal contribution of ₹5 crore to GiveIndia so that the country can fight the first wave of pandemic.

Love and life

Keeping his private life pretty private, Pichai stays with his wife Anjali who happens to be his heartthrob and classmate from IIT Kharagpur, son Kiran and daughter Kavya in California. The cricket buff is a Sachin Tendulkar fan. The love for the game comes from childhood aspiration to be a cricketer. As a high school student, he was the captain of the school cricket team, displaying his leadership skills on the field.

Sundar Pichai trying his hands at cricket

Pichai’s love for sports does not end at cricket. He is also an ardent fan of FC Barcelona – the football club and seldom misses to watch it’s match when its competing on field.

The top CEO recently admitted in one of the interviews of the Wall Street Journal that he is not very good at meditation. Instead, he prefers NSDR (non-sleep deep rest), listening to podcasts or taking his dog for a walk.

Do you know how Sundar Pichai connects people?

Google’s flood forecasting technology sent flood alerts to 23 million people in India and Bangladesh in 2021 helping in timely evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.
Around the world, Google Maps has mapped around 1.6 billion buildings and over 60 million kilometers of roads to date with the vision to keep everyone within the reach, and make the world a well-connected chain of individuals.
The number of buildings on Google Maps in Africa has increased by 5X. Google has made a dataset of these buildings publicly available so that international organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank can use it to better understand population density and to provide support and emergency assistance.
Google Translate broke down language barriers by recently adding 24 languages which together are spoken by 300 million people, bringing them closer to communities across the globe.
Google has been building augmented reality into many products like Google Lens to provide more interactive experiences and prevent technology from coming in the way of the real-world environment.
Follow Sundar Pichai on Twitter and Instagram

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Published on 04, Dec 2022

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Meet the husband-wife duo celebrating plant-forward, borderless cuisine at Moglu

(February 17, 2024) What does it take to give up a thriving technology business in Saudi Arabia to come to Bengaluru to open a vegetarian restaurant? That’s exactly what husband and wife duo, Ankita Shree, Managing Director, and Dr. Kiran Narayanan, Executive Chef, did. They returned to Bengaluru to start Moglu, a restaurant that celebrates vegetarian gastronomy. Their vision is to bring fresh, high-quality ingredients to create a borderless, plant-forward dining experience that seamlessly combines regional and international flavours, influences and techniques. Ankita was a high-achieving student, and studied political science at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi. She topped her class, then did a master’s in Jawaharlal Nehru University, and even spent a summer volunteering with the renowned Belgian-born Indian welfare economist and social scientist, Dr Jean Dreze. During her time volunteering with Dr Dreze, she was focussed on the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in the tribal areas of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. “Witnessing the gaps in the deployment of the scheme was frustrating, and instead of merely petitioning bureaucrats, I felt compelled to become one myself,” Ankita says, in an interview with Global Indian. [caption id="attachment_50090" align="aligncenter" width="349"] Ankita Sree and Kiran Narayan, co-founders of

[caption id="attachment_50090" align="aligncenter" width="349"] Ankita Sree and Kiran Narayan, co-founders of Moglu[/caption]

So, after completing her master’s degree, she spent a year preparing for the UPSC civil services exam. She cleared it on her first attempt and began her career in the Indian Revenue Service, as the Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax. She spent over three years in the IRS, and realised the bureaucratic environment just wasn’t the right fit for her. “Not one to settle, I made the tough decision to leave my job, despite strong objections from my family. I then moved to Saudi Arabia, where I served as the CFO and co-founded a deep tech company with Kiran in 2019,” she recollects.

From architecture to tech

On the other hand, Kiran’s early life was a rich tapestry of experiencing different cultures, cuisines, and friendships. As his father worked for SAIL, the family moved to a new city every 2-2.5 years. It was challenging to have to change schools so often and make new friends each time, but this “transient lifestyle,” says Kiran, did nurture his passion for cooking, eve though he didn’t know it at the time. “My mother's culinary skills and her curiosity for various regional cuisines deeply influenced me. I began experimenting with food at a young age, often observing the outcome of cooking vegetables over the coal stove in Asansol and Burnpur, West Bengal.” Their gardener, ‘Prasad dada’ became Kiran’s first mentor, and fostered his love for cooking.

However, after school, he followed through on his passion for architecture, and joined CEPT in Ahmedabad, which is India’s premier architecture school. However, familial circumstances prompted a shift to a Mechanical Engineering course at SRM, Chennai, then a a master’s degree in Texas, where he lived and worked for six years. Later, he followed a respected professor to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, and completed his PhD under Dr. Ravi Samtaney's mentorship.

[caption id="attachment_50091" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Moglu[/caption]

Although they had such diverse backgrounds, the couple’s paths crossed in 2010 through a common friend. After his time in Texas and before moving to Saudi Arabia, Kiran spent six months in Pune doing a project for DRDO on carbon nanotubes as a scientist. Ankita was visiting a friend on the same campus, which was near Khadakwasla called DIAT (Defence Institute of Advanced Technology). “We met at a party and became and stayed friends for seven years before our relationship blossomed into a romantic one,” smiles Ankita.

Shifting Gears

In 2019, Ankita decided to leave her position at the IRS and embark on a new journey alongside Kiran. The couple ventured into the realm of entrepreneurship, founding their first venture together, a deep tech startup. Kiran had decided to follow his mentor, Dr Ravi Samtaney, to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, where he did his PhD in Computational Physics under his guidance. “The diverse global community within the university township and the support extended to entrepreneurs made it an attractive prospect for us,” says Ankita.

At KAUST, they found a supportive ecosystem and a diverse, collaborative community, the ideal setting for their own startup ambitions and Kiran was keen to establish their tech company there. And when Ankita visited Kiran at KAUST in 2019, she was inspired by what she saw. “The vibrant community and the resources available convinced me to join him as a co-founder and assume the role of CFO. It felt like the perfect opportunity to pursue our entrepreneurial dreams together,” she says.

[caption id="attachment_50092" align="aligncenter" width="520"] The Beirut sharing platter at Moglu[/caption]

The Return

However, as they ran their first venture Saudi Arabia, Ankita had discovered her calling for Yoga, and applied for a Hatha Yoga teacher training programme. In 2022, the couple returned to India and Ankita moved to Coimbatore for a six-month residential training programme at the Isha School of Hatha Yoga. Almost parallelly, Kiran moved to New York and began his professional training as a chef at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in Manhattan. After finishing her training in December 2022, Ankita joined Kiran in NYC for a few months. “Together, we did the NYC winters the right way by indulging in a myriad of food crawls across the Big Apple,” says Kiran. The unwavering confidence, support, and belief they had in each other's company, they decided to make their next move.

The Restaurant Business

With a vision to revolutionise the vegetarian restaurant landscape by infusing it with quality, variety, and innovation, the couple started working on their dream project which was to start a vegetarian restaurant. “We believe that India's diverse range of vegetables, including seasonal produce, deserves to be celebrated and showcased in inventive ways, blending culinary traditions from around the world with our own regional and micro-cuisines - some culinary magic, if you will,” aver the duo.

At the heart of Moglu's culinary philosophy are two simple things, fresh, high-quality ingredients and the use of culinary influences, flavours, and techniques cutting across cuisines, both international as well as regional and micro cuisines, to present them in a manner that's delightful, innovative, and above all, delicious. Kiran says, “Our first goal is to reignite people's love and passion for vegetarian cuisine through a cuisine-agnostic approach that transcends borders and focuses on the inherent qualities of each ingredient. Everything at Moglu, from sauces to ferments, and zero-proof beverages from indigenous ingredients is crafted from scratch, in-house. We combine both scientific knowledge and culinary expertise to bring out the best in indigenous ingredients.” Ankita adds, “we want to present an alternative business model of a restaurant that makes no compromises on quality and purity in the interest of scale. We strongly believe that since food is a consumable that directly impacts one’s wellbeing, scaling food service for hyper growth compromises quality.”

[caption id="attachment_50093" align="aligncenter" width="547"] Tempeh Arancini with Polenta & Romesco[/caption]

Collaborations with the Isha Foundation

To support farmers, they collaborate with Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), particularly those under the purview of Isha Foundation in collaboration with NABARD. “We plan to grow organically and sustainably, without being overly worried about numbers. We want to generate enough revenue to provide everyone on our team with at least two yearly raises. We are focusing on building a strong team that shares our vision and mission. With their collaboration, we aspire to build an institution that can endure beyond our lifetimes and contribute positively to the world,” conclude the couple.

Learn more about Moglu on their website.

Into the Wild with Dr. Koustubh Sharma: Behind the scenes of snow leopard conservation

(November 24, 2023) A fresh ibex carcass was a tell-tale sign that a snow leopard was nearby. This was back in 2010, in South Gobi, Mongolia, where Dr Koustubh Sharma, the Conservation Science Director at the Snow Leopard Trust, stood with a team of seven researchers on a peninsula-shaped ridge line that dropped into a steep slope. It was mid-morning, though, an unlikely time for a snow-leopard sighting. As a colleague, Orjan, inched closer to examine the carcass, the snow leopard, which had been hiding just out of sight, jumped up on to the ledge to avoid him and found itself face-to-face with Koustubh. "He was so very surprised," Koustubh laughs, as he recalls. "I still remember that look on his face, and all the scars he carried." The snow leopard overcame its surprise and slunk away as quickly as it had appeared - Central Asia's apex predator can also be quite shy. In fact, Koustubh says, there are hardly any known encounters where a snow leopard has deliberately attacked humans. In the 15-odd years that Koustubh has worked on the conservation of the species, he has only seen it a handful of times in the wild. The animal's elusive

The animal's elusive nature was part of what drew him to it. "People work with snow leopards for years and never get to see them," he says. They melt into their terrain, making them very hard to spot and can survive in no-man’s land atop snow-covered mountains, breathing very scant air fairly comfortably.

A career in conservation

[caption id="attachment_46975" align="aligncenter" width="464"] Dr Koustubh Sharma. Photo by Xavier Augustin[/caption]

Koustubh speaks to Global Indian from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where he has been based since 2017, splitting his time between his role as International Coordinator at the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Programme and as the Director for Science and Conservation at the Snow Leopard Trust. One of the species' foremost researchers and conservationists, Koustubh's work involves collaborating with policymakers, conservationists and organisations from snow leopard range countries. It means working with partner organisations and making sure that the research and field terms have all the support they need - in terms of scientific and financial resources. "There's a lot of grant writing, outreach, communication and public speaking involved," Koustubh explains. "And since a third of the world's snow leopards live within 100km from international borders, you need to work with multiple governments."

It also involves braving some of the world's harshest terrains, usually in alpine and sub-alpine zones, at elevations of between 3000 and 4,500 meters above sea level. Snow leopards have a very broad range - their habitat extends thousands of kilometres across diverse and very rugged landscapes, across the mountainous regions of Central and South Asia, covering some 12 countries including Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Uzbekistan.

Tech as a gamechanger

A couple of decades ago, being a conservationist meant a lot of treacherous hikes to set up camera traps, and going back everyday to change film rolls and batteries. By 2004-2005, the technology had evolved to digital cameras and conservationists had to visit every six months to replace the battery, collect data and put the traps back. Today, technology has done away with the need to physically camp out in the bitter cold of the rugged Central Asian terrain.

[caption id="attachment_46976" align="aligncenter" width="629"] Testing camera traps. Photo courtesy: Dr Koustubh Sharma[/caption]

Bridging technology and conservation holds a deep fascination for Koustubh. He even appeared in a Microsoft ad, talking about how scientists at the Snow Leopard Trust use the MS’ AI tech in their research efforts. “To protect snow leopards, you need to know where they are,” he said. Camera traps capture thousands of images that need to be analysed - a task that means days of work for humans, and 10 minutes for an advanced AI.

From Bhopal to Bishkek

His association with the snow leopard feels like kismet - he was in the right place at the right time. After completing his Master’s in Physics, Koustubh moved to the Panna Tiger Reserve to do his PhD in wildlife zoology by studying the Four Horned Antelope. "Those were blissful times" he smiles. "I would go in the morning, observe the wildlife and come back. It was like earning for a hobby." Spread out over 552 km of forestland, life at Panna was not for the faint of heart. "It can be quite intense if being alone scares you," Koustubh agrees. He wasn't one to scare easily though - in college, he had picked up bird watching, because it was something he could do in Bhopal. When an overhaul of one of the city's lake required compiling bird data, Koustubh, who was a college kid then, was taken on for the project. "And that was how my association with the Bombay Natural History Society started too," he says.

At the Panna Tiger Reserve, he met another scientist, Dr. Raghu Chundawat, who incidentally, is the first person to complete a PhD on snow leopards, back in the 1980s. Given his background in Physics, Koustubh was fairly comfortable with numbers and he collaborated with Dr Chundawat to explore and experiment on a few methods to monitor and assess snow leopards. They tried and tested site occupancy methods - which are techniques used to determine whether a particular area or site is occupied by a certain species. These methods, which involve camera traps, surveys for tracks, scat or markings and DNA samplings were all fairly new at the time.

As he wound up his thesis, Koustubh heard about the Snow Leopard Trust. Founded in 1981 by Helen Freeman, the Snow Leopard Trust is a non-profit dedicated to the conservation of the endangered snow leopard and the preservation of its ecosystem. They were looking for a regional field biologist, someone who could stay in a remote area without worrying too much about what was happening back home. They also wanted someone to help the researchers in study designs and data analysis. Koustubh was the man for the job.

Where the wild things are

That's how Koustubh began his journeys through the wilderness of Central Asia. "My first trek was in -40 degrees," he says, when he was tasked with setting up a base station site for the first ever long-term ecological study of snow leopards in Mongolia back in 2008. He took off from Delhi, with his overcoat in his main suitcase. As the plane landed, the pilot announced that the temperature was 35 degrees Celsius. "I was like, why is everyone panicking back home? I have lived through 45 degrees Celsius. I stepped out and felt like I was being pricked by thousands of needles. I hadn't heard the 'minus'. My colleagues still make fun of me," he smiles.

Extreme weather is part of the deal, though. Snow leopards tend to live higher up in the mountains, usually above the treeline but just below where everything is totally frozen. "It is the only species that is found only in the mountains." Since prey is scarce so high up in the mountains, snow leopards wander extraordinary distances in search of food, accounting for their large home ranges. Creating and preserving a habitat is challenging, because it spans several thousands of square kilometres. "So, we work with people whose spaces overlap with the snow leopards," Koustubh explains.

Community-driven conservation

Such a large home range means snow leopard territories often overlap with that of humans. With a global population of a few thousand mature individuals, which is projected to decrease by about 10 percent by 2040, the snow leopard faces significant threats from poaching and as mentioned already, the loss of habitat due to infrastructural expansion. "So by design, all conservation work is about community engagement," Koustubh explains, adding, "By building partnerships with local communities, understanding challenges that snow leopards face and coming up with mutually agreeable solutions for people and animals alike." Humans are the main threat to snow leopards, which attack their livestock - and their livelihoods. "We have developed community-owned insurance programmes that helps protect villagers from the onslaught of loss."

Simply put, if people are losing their livestock already to disease, and then one is killed by a snow leopard or a wolf, they're going to want to take their frustration out on the predator. If farmers are losing fewer livestock, they can better withstand the loss of one or two. "In some areas we even work with communities by helping them develop handicraft products. We also help them produce honey, and initiate tourism programmes." Happy tourists can go a long way towards protecting the snow leopard, Koustubh says. "We have another programme to help communities build sustainable and conservation-oriented tourism." At the end of the day, Koustubh says, there's no replacing local skills. "You can bring in your skills and compliment them."

When he's not working, Koustubh is out stargazing on clear nights in Bishkek, to pursue his "rekindled childhood hobby" of astrophotography. I spot some equipment in the background as we speak. "I use a 70-200mm and 400mm standard canon lenses, Schmidt–Cassegrain catadioptric telescope, Doublet Refractor telescope and Newtonian telescope to photograph the night sky," he explains. His Instagram profile is peppered with pictures of Orion's Belt and the Horsehead Nebula, which appear to hold a certain fascination for him.

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Dr. Koustubh Sharma's work in snow leopard conservation bridges gaps between science, policy, and community, shaping a future where both humans and these elusive cats can thrive. His journey underscores the importance of perseverance and collaboration in the face of environmental challenges.

Follow Dr Koustubh Sharma on Instagram

Kheyti: Earthshot Prize-winning startup revolutionising agriculture for small farmers

(September 11, 2023) As a teenager, Sathya Raghu Mokkapati saw a desperate and famished farmer eating mud to satiate his hunger in his village in Andhra Pradesh. That moment left an indelible impact on Sathya, who decided to do something for the farmers. 13 years later, he co-founded Kheyti in 2015 to bolster and amplify farmers' income via their inventive 'greenhouse-in-a-box' approach, which went on to win the Prince William's Earthshot Prize in 2022. Winning a £1 million prize was nothing short of a watershed moment for Kheyti as the spotlight was suddenly turned on the Indian startup, that designed the "greenhouse-in-a-box" for smallhold farmers. With India home to 100 million small-hold farmers and one of the most climate-affected nations in the world, the startup helps reduce costs, increase yields, and protect livelihoods in a region on the frontlines of climate change. Kheyti also trains and supports farmers to ensure their greenhouse is as effective as possible. [caption id="attachment_33509" align="aligncenter" width="804"] Kheyti's Kaushik Kappagantulu with the Earthshot Prize 2022[/caption] "We are honoured to be recognised by The Earthshot Prize this year. The world depends on its small-hold farmers and yet their lives are amongst the hardest on earth. Our Greenhouse-in-a-Box

t="536" /> Kheyti's Kaushik Kappagantulu with the Earthshot Prize 2022[/caption]

"We are honoured to be recognised by The Earthshot Prize this year. The world depends on its small-hold farmers and yet their lives are amongst the hardest on earth. Our Greenhouse-in-a-Box is empowering farmers in India today. The steps we have already taken at Kheyti are now building to change farmers' lives at scale," said Kaushik Kappagantulu, co-founder, Kheyti.

Moreover, Prince William surprised South Londoners this July when he served plant-based 'Earthshot burgers', whose ingredients were from a greenhouse in India by Kheyti.

The beginning

Before Kheyti, Sathya and his long-time friend Ayush Sharma, started Cosmos Green, a startup in the agri space. It was during the same time that the inception of Kheyti took root when the two embarked on a journey across hundreds of Indian villages in 2015 as participants in the Acumen Fellowship, a leadership development program. Their mission was to gain insights into the challenges confronting small-scale farmers, including issues like insufficient rainfall, untimely rains, erratic heat patterns, and the threats posed by pests exacerbated by high temperatures.

During those months, the duo along with co-founders Kaushik K and Saumya came across many farmers who expressed their desire to increase their monthly earnings. They found their solution in the greenhouse as farmers could cultivate premium crops like cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, and even flowers throughout the entire year, regardless of the dry season's drought. This led to the birth of Kheyti's 'greenhouse-in-a-box', an economical and adaptable greenhouse solution that consumes only 10 percent of the water compared to conventional greenhouses while yielding sevenfold more produce. Furthermore, it ensures a consistent and reliable income for farmers. This resilient greenhouse effectively mitigates heat, keeps pests at bay, and conserves water, thereby simplifying the process for farmers to boost their income.

[caption id="attachment_44729" align="aligncenter" width="732"] Kheyti | Global Indian Greenhouse-in-a-box[/caption]

The impact

Initially made out of bamboo to keep the costs to a bare minimum, the greenhouse structure was blown away in the first storm. They then settled for steel structure by taking the help of local banks to finance farmers for its $4,200 cost, while the startup provided them with seeds, fertilizer, and knowledge to help them plant the new crops. Over the years, they continuously worked to bring down the cost of a greenhouse to $1200, which is affordable by most farmers without financing. "No other company in agriculture has been able to deliver so much impact attributable to one product," co-founder Saumya said in an interview.

Traditionally used for growing exotic vegetables like broccoli, the startup has made the greenhouse effective for growing almost all Indian vegetables, including leafy vegetables and common ones like potatoes. Starting in 2015, Khyeti installed their first greenhouse in 2017 in Siddipet in Telangana, and have till now benefitted over 1000 farmers in six states.

30 Kheyti | Global Indian

By reducing the traditional one-acre greenhouse size to one-tenth, the startup has successfully lowered the cost from ₹30 lakh to just ₹60,000, ensuring accessibility and affordability. "Agricultural incomes are dependent on climate risk. Kheyti provides a model of farming which is economically viable and environmentally friendly too," Sathya said in an interview.

"Today, 1,000 farms have a Kheyti greenhouse, but this is just the start. By 2027, Kheyti wants 50,000 farmers to have a Greenhouse-in-a-Box."

Follow Sathya Raghu Mokkapati on LinkedIn
Follow Kaushik K on LinkedIn
Follow Kheyti on Instagram

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Another CEO on the board: India-born business executive Ajay Banga is in the race to lead World Bank

(February 28, 2023) Just about two years ago, when the world first encountered the COVID-19 pandemic, and various business houses panicked about their future, the then-CEO of Mastercard made an announcement that shook the market. Assuring the company’s 19,000 employees, Ajaypal Singh Banga said that he wouldn't lay off a single employee and no one needed to worry about any kind of salary cuts during the economic crisis that had hit the world. Sure enough, the top business executive kept his promise, having almost tripled the Mastercard revenue in the 10 years that he led the company. And now, after successfully leading several corporates, Ajay Banga is in the race to lead one of the biggest global financial institutions - the World Bank. In the wake of David Malpass’s announcement of resignation from the World Bank (WB) last week, US President Joe Biden has nominated Ajaypal Singh Banga to lead the institution. Being the largest shareholder in the WB Group, the US president traditionally nominates its president, who is later screened for the presidency by the board of Executive Directors of the group. As the Indian-American business executive gears up to lead the World Bank, Global Indian takes a look

tionally nominates its president, who is later screened for the presidency by the board of Executive Directors of the group. As the Indian-American business executive gears up to lead the World Bank, Global Indian takes a look at his glorious 40-year-long career.

An eagle flight

Born to an Indian army officer, in Khadki cantonment, the business executive is the younger brother of Manvinder "Vindi" Singh Banga, the senior partner at the private equity fund Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. Growing up in various parts of India, the business executive shared that he learned a lot about adaptability and managing people. "I grew up moving from city to city. Adults find it hard to move, but kids don’t. Moving frequently makes you flexible, quick to make friends, quick to adjust and adapt, and allows you to glide between cultures and people. Different parts of India have completely different cultures. The North is completely different from the East and the West. This is completely different than even in the South," he said, adding, "The one thing it did for me more than anything else was this easy adaptability, the willingness to adjust, and the willingness to just fit in, I think it’s helped me in all my life."

[caption id="attachment_35569" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Business executive | Ajay Banga | Global Indian Mr. Banga with former President of India, Dr Pranab Mukherjee[/caption]

Having studied in some of the finest schools in the country, including St. Edward's School, Shimla and Hyderabad Public School, Ajaypal Singh Banga went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and later pursued an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Soon after finishing his studies, Mr. Banga started his career with Nestlé in 1981, where he worked for 13 years before moving to PepsiCo.

[caption id="attachment_35571" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Business executive | Ajay Banga | Global Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi met Ajay Banga, in New York[/caption]

"When I was a young manager in India, infrastructure was relatively poor. Labour relations were challenged. Phone lines were awful. You couldn’t get through to people or distributors. If you were waiting for baby food trucks to reach you, it wasn’t that you knew they would arrive in three days; it could take nine days. So that idea of knowing how to deal with ambiguity, of knowing how to deal with that form of unpredictability, it’s the way I’m trained to think," shared the business executive, adding, "The idea of taking thoughtful risks came from that environment. And having the sense of urgency to make that decision and take that risk without knowing everything, but having had the patience at the same time to listen to people who know more than you — that is an interesting balance."

The land of opportunities

In 1996, Ajaypal Singh Banga moved to the United States while working for PepsiCo and handled various roles during his tenure, including CEO of the company's operations in India and Southeast Asia. While the business executive was still settling in his role, a grave terrorist attack on the USA shook the world and in its aftermath, Banga too had to endure discrimination. "Post-9/11, I have been accosted by people on the street and called names. I’ve been taken aside randomly for searching at every T.S.A. checkpoint. I get that. But again, you can be pissed off about it, or you can realize that this is people trying to do their job. They’re trying to keep me safe as well as you. But I’m not resentful," he shared during an interview.

Business executive | Global Indian

The business executive was naturalised as a US citizen in 2007. And soon after that, he became the CEO of Mastercard, and also a member of its board of directors. When he took over the company, Mastercard wasn't in great shape. Instead of giving quarterly earnings guidance to the company's investors, Banga offered them a rolling forecast of where Mastercard would be in the next couple of years. "I told my investors, you should expect to see over the next three years is growing at an average growth rate of this to this, this range, within average profitability of this to this, this range. And I’m not going to make other commitments to you. I’m going to run my company. I want to grow revenue, not maximise my profitability," he shared. Almost all his strategies worked out and soon enough Mastercard stocks soared by more than 1,000 percent during his tenure, outperforming competitors Visa and American Express.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-tjY-DG5-0

Realising his potential in leading a financial institution, the former US President appointed Banga to serve as a member of the President's Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiation in 2015. The business executive was also elected as the chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) succeeding Paul Polman.

The road ahead

While the nominations for the next President of the World Bank are still under discussion, members of the US government seem quite sure that Banga is well-equipped to take the lead of the financial institution. Sharing that they are very confident of his selection, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, "This is somebody who grew up in emerging markets, spent most of his career working in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, really deeply understands and has lived in countries that face development challenges."

[caption id="attachment_35566" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Business executive | Global Indian Mr. Banga with his wife, Ritu[/caption]

If selected, the business executive is sure to face a tough slate of issues around the institution's finances and capital structure from the start - thorny problems he must address as he reshapes the bank into a force for combating climate change on top of its traditional role as a poverty fighter. "We feel that Banga is an individual who has a better chance of being able to accomplish that than anyone else I can honestly think of," Yellen said during the press conference.

Reading Time: 7 mins

These Indian techies break the chain with blockchain

From securing critical documents to creating new protocols to unlocking working capital, Indian techies are unchaining blockchain for a variety of applications. (February 3, 2022) Blockchain has grown from being just an industry buzzword to a full-fledged technology stream that harnesses the power of impenetrable ledger data for a variety of applications. Of course, blockchain shot to fame with crypto, which essentially unleashed an alternate currency for the world to trade in. But today, thanks to innovative Indians who are committed to making a difference, we have a variety of blockchain applications that have a massive impact on our daily lives, as well at the blockchain industry at large. Let’s take a look… Securing property papers [caption id="attachment_19450" align="aligncenter" width="381"] Tanmay Yadav, founder, CRUBN[/caption] On January 24, the Prime Minister of India felicitated the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar awardees, as per tradition. However, this year was slightly different. Each awardee was conferred with a blockchain-based digital certificate, and this initiative was in partnership with a blockchain startup called CRUBN. The company was incubated at IIT Kanpur in 2020, and is founded by Tanmay Yadav. Tanmay has also started collaborating with individual state government to create innovative solutions aimed at

as in partnership with a blockchain startup called CRUBN. The company was incubated at IIT Kanpur in 2020, and is founded by Tanmay Yadav. Tanmay has also started collaborating with individual state government to create innovative solutions aimed at better and safer governance. For instance, he recently tied up with the Center for Smart Governance, Government of Karnataka, to create a blockchain-based property data storage solution, eliminating the risk of impersonation and tweaking of historical records. Explaining the solution, Tanmay says, “The solution gives every property holder a card, which upon authentication by the user, provides access to property-related documents in electronic form. The card can be accessed at citizen service centres for access.” Tanmay believes that solutions like these are an ideal testimony to how blockchain can be used for secure data storage.

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Covid-19 test certificate powered by blockchain

[caption id="attachment_19452" align="aligncenter" width="367"] Indian Techie | Vignesh Babu Vignesh Babu Venkatesan, founder, Print2Block[/caption]

In mid-2020, when the entire country was raging under the first wave of the pandemic, the government of Maharashtra realised that test certificates of those testing negative was around 70 percent of those getting tested. In order to ensure that negative certificates reach users on time, the government turned to blockchain. Chennai based Print2Block, provided this solution by setting up a private blockchain where the data resided on government servers while the processing and retrieval happened at the private Print2Block server. Co-founded by Vignesh Babu Venkatesan and Joji Verghese, Print2Block, the NASSCOM- incubated startup specialises in issuing digital documents on blockchain. Vignesh tells Global Indian, “We were the first to develop a robust trust infrastructure platform, along with a human interactive USB device that facilitates secure document access.” The masters degree holder in mechatronics from Madras Institute of Technology envisions a world where electronic documents exist in the safest possible corner of cyberspace.

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Reimagining a blockchain platform

[caption id="attachment_19451" align="aligncenter" width="417"] Indian Techie | Jaynti Kanani Jaynti Kanani, founder, Polygon Technologies[/caption]

“Built by developers, for developers” is the mantra of Polygon Technologies. Created with the vision of building a framework and protocol for connecting various blockchain networks, Polygon became a familiar name in the blockchain circuit, when its Singapore-based, Indian-origin founder Jaynti Kanani, became one of the first Indians to secure a huge funding from Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban. Today, the company has crossed market capitalisation of $10 billion. Interestingly, Jaynti was a regular data scientist with housing.com prior to founding Polygon. Oftentimes, he recalls how his humble beginnings as a diamond factory worker’s son in the outskirts of Ahmedabad, slowly morphed into a full-fledged career and entrepreneurship in blockchain. Kanani recalls, “From a monthly salary of ₹6,000 from my first job in Pune, to Polygon, the journey has been amazing. The potential of blockchain is so huge that there’s no looking back now.”

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Ploughing equity back to the industry

Founded by IIT-Bombay graduate Piyush Gupta, Polytrade was created as early as 2014, with the aim of supporting small businesses by providing working capital to those who were struggling for finances. Piyush realised quite early that the main reasons SMEs struggled with finances was lack of understanding around some trade finance instruments such as lack of collaterals, high cost of borrowing, and exhaustion of credit limits. As per industry data, the unmet demands of working capital for SMEs in India is to the tune of ₹2,200 crore. Piyush wanted to change this.

[caption id="attachment_19453" align="aligncenter" width="355"] Indian Techie | Piyush Gupta Piyush Gupta, founder, Polytrade[/caption]

Piyush, MD and founder, Polytrade says, “We’ve just launched (on January 31, 2022), Polytrade Mainnet, essentially opening up a supplementary source of financing for SMEs by creating a blockchain-based decentralized protocol.”

By leveraging the power of blockchain and crypto, SMEs operating in the area of crypto now have access to finances in their own virtual currencies, allowing them to innovate at will. Like most others in the blockchain innovation space, Piyush is passionate about doing his bit for India. “India’s SMEs will be key to achieving Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s objective of making the country atmanirbhar and a $ 5 trillion economy. Polytrade will ensure that these small enterprises have the working cash to achieve their goals,” explains Piyush Gupta.

Follow Piyush Gupta on Linkedin