Alphabet’s Google has hire a new public policy head in India, Archana Gulati, who previously work at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal think-tank and the country’s antitrust watchdog, as per source.
A number of Indian government officials have hire by Big Tech companies which are battling tighter data and privacy regulation, as well as competition law scrutiny, under Modi’s federal government.
Archana Gulati is a long-term Indian government employee, having work until March 2021 as a joint secretary for digital communications at Modi’s federal think tank, NITI Aayog, a body that is critical to government’s policy making across sectors.
Before that, between 2014 and 2016, she work as a senior official at India’s antitrust body, the Competition Commission of India, according to her LinkedIn profile.
India’s antitrust watchdog is currently looking into Google’s business conduct in the market of smart TVs, its Android operating system as well as its in-app payments system.
In 2021, Meta Platforms hire Rajiv Aggarwal, who spent years working in India’s federal and state governments as its head of policy.
Another former Indian antitrust and federal government official, Anand Jha, in 2019 join Walmart as India public policy officer.
He currently manages government relations for Blackstone in India.
