Microsoft CEO plugs into Digital India

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has re-affirmed the American giant's plans to plug into the Digital India programme.

His meeting with Indian communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad this week revolved around on how Microsoft can help provide low-cost broadband connectivity to rural Indian.During Prime Minister Narendra Modi′s visit to the US in September, Nadella had revealed his company's plans to partner with the government to bring in low-cost broadband connectivity to 500,000 villages in India.During his visit to India for the 'Future Unleashed' event in Mumbai, he went into the specifics of the launch of Microsoft's flagship Surface Pro 4 tablet in India by early next year as well as the broader context of how the world was moving towards better computing for the future.He said: “Computing will be everywhere, but what will be key is our mobility of our human experience through all this computing. That is where the cloud is important.“Mobility of the human experience and collaboration will drive productivity... I am amazed at the energy and ingenuity in India.”Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also held discussions with Nadella on the possibility of setting up 50 more digital villages in 2016.Prasad appealed to Microsoft to apply its experience in language technology to help Digitise Indian languages.Nadella also held meetings with industry leaders like Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra, Axis Bank head Shikha Sharma and Tata Starbucks CEO Avani Davda indicating a number of projects in the pipeline for Microsoft in India.