Google guys go ga-ga over India

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were in India, October 10-13, on a whistle-stop tour.

Google, they said, is quite bullish over expanding its Indian operations and impressed with the talent pool available in India.

The two co-founders of the world's largest Internet search engine remained tight-lipped about the kind of investment Google plans in India to expand capacity or the number of people it will hire at its two centers in Bangalore and Hyderabad. But they said that the company is in a hiring mode and they want to expand their Indian operations.

Sergey Brin, Co-founder and President (Technology), Google, said he wanted the company's Indian operations to mirror its American operations in terms of development.

He said they company was on the hunt for young, entrepreneurial, unconventional people who wanted to make a big change in the world.

Larry Page, Co-founder and President (Products), Google, meanwhile said that the company's units in India will remain R&D centers and not act as a back office.

"We are continuing to ramp it (the Indian operations) up. We are trying to make it a smooth one and do not want to spike it. Google Bangalore, the company's first R&D centre outside the US, will be an 'ideas' centre," said Page.

Google team in India is only 10-people strong and is headed by Krishna Bharat, Principal Scientist and Head, Google India. Globally, Google has 2,200 employees on its rolls.

Sergey Brin (L) and Larry Page (R), the Google co-founders. Photo: Getty Images

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