Here Is Everything You Need To Know About The New Country Manager of Google India Former Star and Disney's head Sanjay Gupta will take up the role of Country Manager early next year and will be working closely with teams-based in Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Bengaluru

Too strengthen presence in India, Google India has now appointed Former Star and Disney's head Sanjay Gupta as Country Manager. Gupta will also serve the internet company as Vice President of Sales and Operations for India.

According to the official statement, Gupta will take on the role early next year and will be based out of Mumbai. He will be working closely with teams-based in Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Bengaluru and will be responsible for expanding the internet ecosystem, driving Internet adoption among consumers and businesses, and accelerating innovation.

"Our Indian operation is important and strategic for its own sake but also for the innovation which then feeds breakthroughs elsewhere in Google. We are delighted to have Sanjay join us. We are excited to combine his expertise, experience and leadership with our teams and build further on our existing efforts in this highly dynamic, competitive and exciting digital economy, looking to build a more helpful and inclusive Internet for everyone in India," Scott Beaumont, President of APAC, Google said in a statement.

Gupta's Previous Stints

Gupta will join Google India with three decades of experience. The former Star and Disney India managing director played an important role to help Star become a prominent media company in India.

According to the official statement, Gupta also played an instrumental role in expanding Star's television content to digital consumers through Hotstar. He is also credited for building their sports business via the acquisition of marquee cricketing properties and launch of the hugely popular kabaddi and football leagues: Pro Kabaddi League and Indian Super League.

Before this, Gupta led the marketing for Oral and Homecare segments at Hindustan Unilever. He also led sales and marketing initiatives for mobile business at Bharti Airtel as Chief Marketing Officer. Gupta had completed his post-graduation from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kolkata and received his engineering degree from Delhi College of Engineering.

"It is an exciting opportunity to leverage the power of technology to solve some of India's unique challenges and make the Internet an engine of economic growth for people and communities. I am happy to join the passionate teams across Google and look forward to contributing to India's digital journey as it becomes an innovation hub for the world," Gupta said in a statement.

Google's India Initiatives

Internet users in India are expected to reach 627 million in 2019, according to a report by Kantar IMRB. At a time when smartphone and internet penetration is on the rise in India, the US-based search giant has been introducing a slew of India-focussed features and services since 2018 to maintain its dominance in the market.

Earlier in September, during Google for India event, the tech giant launched its new app Google Pay For Business to encourage small and medium-sized merchants to adopt digital payments. According to the company, this app will make the process of onboarding easier via video KYC, and instant verifications using Google Duo. The company is also making payments available to debit and credit cardholders through "tokenized' cards which is a secure way of paying via a digital token instead of using card number.

Google also joined hands with National Skills Development Corporation where students will be allowed to easily get started with Jobs and also find better employment.

The technology company is also planning to launch AI (artificial intelligence) lab in Bengaluru where the team will be focussing on: i) Advancing fundamental computer science and AI research by partnering with the research community across the country. ii) Applying the research to tackle big problems in fields such as healthcare, agriculture, and education and also use it to make apps and services.