. A single click connects you to millions of people around the world and gets you information in an instant. And the man leading Google’s charge in India, has an American accent but Indian roots. Shailesh Rao, the Managing Director of Google India started at Google’s headquarters in Silicon Valley before he logged on to the Indian market.
A graduate from the Kellogg School of Management, Shailesh Rao had worked with Mercer, America Online and Yodlee before he joined Google. He started in California and now he is heading Google’s India operations. Shailesh Rao is the Managing Director of Google India at 36. His aspiration is to make Google an indispensable part of every Indian’s daily life and in every Indian business growth in five years time.
Shailesh Rao said that Google is young company. They have been around only for 8 or 9 years. He said that India has really come to the forefront Google's consciousness only in the last few years so it is a perfect time to come to India, take all the resources, the talent, the energy of Google and apply it to a vast, diverse interesting market like India. Rao added that India is absolutely ready for the the digital information age. He said that India is a culture that’s always has been focused on education. He spoke in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan.
Experts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Shailesh Rao:
Q: You said that the first few months at Google were challenging because working at Google is a bit of an acquired taste. It is unlike any other organisation. Why is that?
A: Google has got a very particular culture in which one empowers all the individuals, employees to own their own work, own their achievements and try to have an impact. So, one has to get used to a culture where one has to be a self starter, be self motivated and have the self confidence to just get things done, and not look around for approvals or direction and ask your manager if something is okay or not. There is such a healthy confidence and belief in every employee’s ability to have impact, that once you understand that responsibility and that opportunity, it actually is a lot of fun.
Q: In spite of abysmally low penetration, the Indian Internet space has caught the fancy of web evangelists. Google India has already become the second largest operation for Google Worldwide in terms of number of employees and has even surprisingly emerged as the highest growth market in terms of advertising revenues. The effort is now on extending reach. The solution: bridging the language divide, India specific content, and India focused sites like youtube.co.in?
A: We want to be able to service all Indians, large or small. YouTube allows us to bring video to Indians. As a format it is very compelling. Culturally, we love video; we have a long history of enjoying film. But in addition, video allows an opportunity for all Indians to engage in the information revolution. It doesn’t require text input; it doesn’t require that level of literacy. It almost allows you to circumvent those issues and connect with a broader audience.
Q: This is a great time to be part of Google’s India operations because it is one of your fastest growing markets and of course in terms of R&D; it has always been of strategic importance to Google?
A: That’s right. We are a young company. We have only been around for 8 or 9 years. So, India has really come to the forefront of our company’s consciousness only in the last few years. It is a perfect time to come to India, take all the resources, the talent, the energy of Google and apply it to a vast, diverse interesting market like India and hopefully have an impact. We really are a start-up. So, working for a start-up within a start-up is extra special.
Q: What is the biggest challenge of working within a startup in a startup?
A: Having been in a startup that I know and remember, the challenge of making hard trade-offs, having big dreams and resources that are not that big, and making tough decisions about what to do and what most importantly not to do.
Q: What has been the toughest decision that you have taken both in terms of what to do and what not to do?
A: If you look at our global product portfolio, we actually have products for consumers that number in the dozens. Many people may not know but if you click on the more link on the Google homepage, there is a list of services beyond the ones that are used most often, which are really interesting for users. In India, we don’t have the privilege of taking that full slate of products and bringing them all simultaneously.
Q: Do you think India is ready at this point in time for it?
A: India is absolutely ready for the information age, the digital information age. It is a culture that’s always has been focused on education; Whether it is my parents, my relatives or friends - there is a common theme across the culture which that education is the pathway to better quality of life, a better livelihood for the next generation.
Q: When I was speaking to Ram Sriram a couple of months ago and he was talking about how Google has become the textbook or the new textbook in emerging markets and taking that philosophy forward in India. Have you had discussions with the government? How can you really become part of the sort of education initiative?
A: It is tremendous opportunity for us. We have spoken quite a bit with various parts of the government with respect to the potential public-private partnerships. There is a lot that we could do to help the youth of India access necessary information; Both for the educational purposes as well as just general knowledge and interest and entrainment.
Q: What will these partnerships really look like and what they would do?
A: The interesting thing about the internet today is that there is a lot of information on the internet. But it is not the most relevant for Indian interest and needs. So one of the primary focus areas for Google India is to work with all the content providers in India who have information relevant to Indians and find a way to merge their information with our capabilities to provide accesses and really create a fundamentally different kind of online experience for the average Indian - young or old.
Q: You have talked about making Google more relevant to an Indian audience, to an Indian internet user. Part of that initiative is really bridging the language divide, which you have sort of taken off in Indian - what more can we see on that front?
A: Whether it is ‘Google Search’ or ‘Google.co.in’ or whether it is ‘Orkut’, whether it is ‘Blogger’ - many of these products are available in many Indian languages beyond English - that’s the first step. But beyond the obvious, which is the language support, we really need to spend more time understanding the particular needs and interest of the vast diversity i.e. India.
Q: With a large engineering presence in India, you are keen to ramp up Google’s market capabilities to service the Indian markets. With the recent Indian tie-up with Bharti Airtel, Do you want Google mobile to cash in on India’s mobile mania.
A: There are two buckets. One bucket, takes Google products that users love around the world and in India and bring it to a mobile device. The second bucket or category is thinking about novel applications that take advantage of the mobile device for what it is - separate and distinct from the computer. We build our business is by providing advertising opportunities to businesses. In India, we believe there is a tremendous opportunity in mobile advertising. We have seen lots of success around the world in providing our type of advertising on a mobile device.
Q: Outside of the mobile phenomena the other revolution that India has got caught up is the entire social networking revolution Orkut, Facebook you name it and it is not now just an urban yippee phenomena it is a Tier I-Tier II phenomena as well. What more are we actually going to see on that front?
A: The thing that binds us around the world, and binds Indians across the country is a deep desire to connect to communicate, to share with one another and create a platform that enables them to do that has been very satisfying for us. So Orkut is a very important part of our portfolio in India. It is the most popular service on the Internet if you look at some third party’s statistics. So the main thing is to make sure that our existing community of users remain happy and get tremendous value out of this service.
Q: What are revenues going to look for this start up within a start up?
A: We are growing faster than the overall company and we are growing very fast even for an Indian business comparatively speaking. So very excited about that. The sure history we have had in India has been tremendous in terms of the reception we have got from the consumers and from businesses. With respect to consumers, I don’t think it is too far to say that at this point in our evolution we are as well situated in India maybe, as we have been anywhere out. The breadth and the diversity of the interest in our products has been really compelling. We hope to continue to invest in growth.
Q: Share with us before we let you go your five-point India strategy over the next 12-18 months?
A: Before I get into this strategy, I think the objective is important. The mission of the company is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. In that context; Our goal is to create products for Indian consumers and Indian businesses. To do that we need to build a great organization, making sure we have information relevant for Indians, and deliver that information across all the devices that Indians use to access information. Putting it in terms so that all Indians can participate across India in rural towns and in the urban sectors from North to South and making sure their businesses take advantage of ad-worlds as a platform to advertise and connect with consumers digitally. So that Google can be a central part of the overall India growth story and the economy’s
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