Microsoft CEO Nadella keen to take up 'Digital India'

Microsoft Corporation CEO, Satya Nadella met Communications and Information Technology (IT) Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and discussed about 'Digital India'.

"I have an aspiration that in this mobile and cloud world we can empower every Indian individual, citizen of India, every business organisation and institution in India, to be able to thrive with new technology, so I am looking forward to being part of both your 'Digital India' and 'Make in India'," said Nadella.

"We are making huge investments with our data center in particular which we think can empower organisations in this country to be world class with the access to technology which is all going to be available locally. We are looking forward to partnering closely, seeing all of this come true to help every Indian business and every Indian citizen," he added.

Nadella also said that through new technology and concepts every Indian could be empowered.

"I have suggested to him that we are keen if he has certain concrete suggestions to give for further improvement of digital India concept, we are quite willing to accept. We have talked about other products which are going to be launched in India including from digital locker, cloud to datacenters. I have requested him to consider electronic manufacturing," said Prasad.

During his Independence Day speech this year, Prime Minister Modi had talked about 'Digital India' and had said that the country has to use this idea to revolutionize health and education, use broadband for education for rural areas, and telemedicine for the poor.

Microsoft plans to offer its commercial and cloud services - Azure and Office 365 - from three local data centres by the end of 2015, making it the first technology company to set up cloud data centres in India, a move that experts say will help the US-based software giant compete better in the domestic market.