Google CEO Sundar Pichai remembers good old days at IIT-Kharagpur

After Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, Google CEO Sundar Pichai is on his India tour. On Day 1, Pichai addressed a media event in New Delhi and the next day he returned to his alma mater, IIT Kharagpur and had an interactive session with the students.

A nostalgic Pichai told students about his own days at IIT-Kharagpur. He talked about his struggles and his favorite mess food.  He also shared the story of how he met his wife at the college campus.

On not knowing the Hindi language, Pichai said, "Didn't know Hindi too well when I came here from Chennai. I thought "abbey saale!" was a way to call out to people. I learnt Hindi in college".

On Google's focus in the future he said they are "betting big" on advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in the coming years.

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Pichai said, "I can't quite tell exactly but advances in AI and machine learning, we are making a big bet on that. Advances in machine learning will bring a difference in many fields."

He said,"As a leader it is important to not just see your own success. But focus on the success of others. There are so many people who work so hard and try new things every day. As a leader we should guide them to succeed. Focusing on the team is one of the most important jobs for a leader."

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Students also asked Pichai about making IIT Kharagpur as Google doodle. To which he said, "Even if I send an email to make IIT-Kharagpur as the doodle for the day, they won't do it. We have very strong ethics and principles of the organization that are followed and we are very particular about what all is approved as doodles."

As Google is eyeing the android phone market in India, he discussed his plans and said, "We look forward to cheaper smart phones in India. In the $30 bracket for entry level smart phones."

"We at Google want to focus on usage of Internet in rural areas in India. We are big supporters of the Digital India program. We are also working on digitizing payments," he further added.

The Google CEO also recalled his job interview he said the panel asked him about the gmail feature, which was released on the April fool's day.

"I hadn't had a chance to use it (access to Gmail was invite-only at the time), I thought it was an April fool's joke," he said.

Yesterday, in Delhi, Pichai unveiled new app and training modules for small and medium businesses in India at an event in the capital.

The new app Primer and training modules were launched under the Google's My Business offering, as it looks to further tap the 51-million strong small and medium businesses (SMB) market in India.

In his previous visit to India in December 2015, Pichai had announced that Google would provide free WiFi in 400 railway stations in India in collaboration with Rail Tel. Currently, the facility is available in 100 stations.