A source with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters that Alphabet Inc’s Google had hired Archana Gulati as its new public policy head in India. Gulati previously worked at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal think-tank and the country’s antitrust authority.
Big Tech corporations have employed many Indian government employees as they battle harsher data and privacy regulations, as well as competition law scrutiny, under Modi’s federal administration.
Gulati has worked for the Indian government for a long time, most recently as a joint secretary for digital communications at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal think tank, Niti Aayog, which is crucial to the government’s policymaking across sectors.
According to her LinkedIn page, she served as a senior official at India’s antitrust regulator, the Competition Commission of India, between 2014 and 2016. A Google India spokeswoman confirmed the news to Reuters but gave no other details. Gulati did not respond to a request for comment right away.
Because the hiring decision was not made public, the source declined to be identified.
