Google CEO Sundar Pichai Receives Padma Bhushan, India’s Third-Highest Civilian Award in San Francisco

The Indian Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, handed over the award at a closed ceremony hosted by Google in San Francisco on Friday. Google CEO Sundar Pichai was named the recipient of Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award on 26th January, 2022. Pichai has been Google CEO since August 2015 and became the CEO of Alphabet in 2019.

Taranjit Singh Sandhu expressed his gratification on twitter, “Delighted to hand over Padma Bhushan to CEO @Google & Alphabet @sundarpichai in San Francisco. Sundar’s inspirational journey from #Madurai to Mountain View, strengthening economic & tech. ties, reaffirms Indian talent’s contribution to global innovation.”

He was announced as the recipient of the award on the 73rd Republic Day by the Ministry of Home Affairs. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in the Trade and Industry category. 

Pichai expressed gratitude, replying to Taranjit Singh’s tweet, “Thank you Ambassador @SandhuTaranjitS. It was an immense honor to receive the Padma Bhushan, and to have my family there with me today. Grateful to the Indian government and the people of India.”

Sundar Pichai conveyed his vote of thanks on his blog ‘A message to the CEO’, “I want to thank Ambassador Sandhu and Consul General Prasad for hosting me to receive the Padma Bhushan. I am deeply grateful to the Indian government and the people of India for this immense honor. It is incredibly meaningful to be honored in this way by the country that shaped me….India is a part of me. I carry it with me wherever I go. (Unlike this beautiful award which I will keep somewhere safe.)”

Reminiscing Google’s relationship with India in strengthening the technological backbone of the country. He also added: “We recently announced that we’ll be investing $10 billion in India’s digital future, working to enable more affordable internet access, building products for India’s unique needs, helping businesses of all sizes in their digital transformation, and using AI to tackle big societal challenges.”

Pichai intimated that India is taking forward steps towards innovation a little more, and is visible to him with each of his visits. Google is pleased to be continuously investing and working towards more technological advancement in India. He also mentioned Digital India Vision as an ‘accelerator’ towards the vision of a complete digital transformation which would help the country in dealing with several preceding as well as imminent societal challenges.