FM Sitharaman Engages Global Leaders to Fuel India's Growth
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Synopsis
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with global CEOs and investors to discuss collaboration opportunities in energy, sustainability, and AI. The discussions emphasized India's commitment to innovation and digital infrastructure, aiming to foster deeper investment ties with the US.
Key Takeaways
- FM Sitharaman met with global business leaders in San Francisco.
- Discussions revolved around energy, sustainability, and digital infrastructure.
- Interest in India's Rs 1 lakh crore innovation scheme was expressed.
- Collaboration opportunities in AI and Cloud technologies were explored.
- India’s digital transformation was highlighted as a global model.
San Francisco, April 22 (NationPress) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman engaged with global CEOs, pension fund managers, and various institutional investors in discussions centered on opportunities for collaboration in the sectors of energy and sustainability. The dialogue included the ambitious Rs 1 lakh crore ($12 billion) corpus for private sector–driven research, development, and innovation schemes, as well as the GIFT-IFSC, among other initiatives.
Accompanied by Finance Secretary Ajay Seth and Vinay Mohan Kwatra, India’s Ambassador to the US, the Finance Minister absorbed their insights regarding the reforms being implemented by the Indian government, offering feedback on the current policy framework.
The attendees expressed their strong interest in fostering a deeper, more extensive investment partnership between India and the US, sharing suggestions on how to improve the investment experience.
FM Sitharaman expressed her gratitude to the participants for their insightful feedback and recommendations.
During her individual meetings with leading CEOs, FM Sitharaman explored opportunities across AI, Cloud, and digital infrastructure.
Jonathan Siddharth, CEO of Turing, conveyed his aspiration for India to lead the AI revolution and discussed collaborating in the AI sector with Indian professionals to develop a sovereign model that could serve as a global template.
The Finance Minister emphasized the policy framework established by India for AI, encouraging Siddharth to investigate collaboration opportunities.
Debanjan Saha, CEO of DataRobot, highlighted India’s potential to emerge as an AI superpower and expressed enthusiasm about participating in the AI Centre of Excellence, for which the recent Union Budget 2025-26 allocated Rs 500 crore.
The Minister outlined the government’s ongoing efforts to enhance digital infrastructure, including a budget of Rs. 10,300 crore for the IndiaAI Mission, the development of AI language technologies through BharatGen and Sarvam-1, and the establishment of the Srijan Centre for Generative AI at IIT Jodhpur.
She informed Saha about the promising opportunities associated with the proposed Rs. 1 lakh crore corpus aimed at fostering private sector-driven research, development, and innovation.
In her discussions with Anjney Midha, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and VMware CEO Raghu Raghuram, the minister addressed the significant technological transformation led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, encouraging them to explore collaborations across the AI sector.
Additionally, she met with Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, and his team, discussing the transformative development of India's digital infrastructure under the Digital India initiative, which has positioned the country as a leader in digital adoption.
Kurian acknowledged and praised India’s AI Mission, noting the positive trajectory under PM Modi’s leadership, and advocated for connecting India to the global network through land and sea cables. He mentioned that Google Cloud aims to operate entirely on carbon-free energy in its data centers and offices worldwide by 2030, and shared insights regarding their forthcoming investment strategy for India.
