Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met Shantanu Narayen, President and CEO of Adobe, in Washington and discussed ed-tech, India’s startup ecosystem, innovation and the software giant's collaboration and future investment plans in India. Post the meeting, the latter even referred to Adobe’s investment in India as the company’s "secret weapon".
“Mr. Shantanu Narayen of @Adobe is a great friend of India’s. I sat down with him to discuss interesting ideas relating to ed-tech, supporting Indian start-ups and boosting innovation. Shantanu expressed keenness to take the joys of video and animation to every child in India,” the prime minister tweeted after the meeting.
Modi and Narayen’s discussions also focused on India’s flagship programme Digital India, and use of emerging technologies in sectors like health, education and R&D, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The development comes as
PM Modi, who is on a three-day visit to the US, today held one-on-one meetings with CEOs of Qualcomm, Adobe, First Solar, General Atomics and Blackstone to highlight economic opportunities in India.
The prime minister in his meeting with the Indian-origin Adobe CEO said that bringing smart education to every child is important and that makes the technology very important, asserting that in the COVID-19 era, the ground for digital education has been laid.
When asked if India's National Education Policy will complement Adobe's investment plan in India, Narayen said, education is the basis of everything and since Adobe is in the intellectual property business, its biggest asset is its people. Therefore, anything that happens with respect to encouraging education and having digital literacy only helps Adobe, he said.
Narayen further mentioned that the duo discussed the importance of creativity, continued investment in innovation and artificial intelligence.
Narayen also noted that Adobe’s experience so far with respect to investments in India has been outstanding. “It's actually our secret weapon. We started in India way before it was fashionable to have an Indian facility. We said, right from the beginning that we want the best and we want to be able to file more patents and do fundamental innovation. That's why we have multiple centres in India,” he told reporters said after meeting PM Modi.
When asked about the startup ecosystem in India, Adobe CEO, said it’s inspiring that the aspirations of these Indian startups are not just restricted to India but they are thinking about how to conquer the world.
He added that India is a big area of investment for the California-based software firm. “Adobe has three growth initiatives—creativity, document productivity and powering digital business. Artificial Intelligence is going to change how all three solutions are delivered. So, we intend to continue to invest heavily in India,” he said.
(Edited by : Kanishka Sarkar)
First Published: Sept 23, 2021 7:51 PM IST
