According to a statement from Google, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad met the Google CEO Sundar Pichai during a visit to their headquarters in Mountain View, California yesterday.

Prasad was shown a demonstration of innovations on the campus as well as their plans to increase access in India via Indic language computing, Artificial Intelligence solutions for social good and capacity building of startups etc. Pichai deemed the meeting fruitful by saying that it was great to discuss with the Indian leader the country's "exciting digital transformation that's bringing lots of new opportunity to the region. It's a privilege to be a part of it." Meanwhile, Prasad agreed that companies such as Google were integral to digitally empower India's citizens. "Digital payments have played a pivotal role in India's growth story and they are driving the digital revolution in India," Prasad said.

During this visit, Prasad also held discussions with several leading technology and business CEOs and senior executives including venture capitalists focused on the Indian market. The meetings discussed the need to work collectively to better manage technology challenges like data privacy and security issues, especially in the context of next-generation technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things, according to a statement by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM).