HTLS Day 4 wrap up: Pichai’s future plans, Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Omicron
The fourth day of Hindustan Times Leadership Summit saw renowned personalities take the stage, talking about how ‘The New World Order’ appears in their domain. In the opening session, Google CEO Sundar Pichai spoke with Hindustan Times editor-in-chief R Sukumar about how virtual work culture became normal during Covid-19 pandemic and his future plans. The next session saw MobiKwik COO and co-founder Upasana Taku, and Sequoia Capital MD Rajan Anandan talk about the current Indian startup culture with CNBC-TV18 deputy editor Shruti Mishra. The following session had hotelier and Soneva CEO Sonu Shivdasani joining in conversation with Brunch editor Jamal Sheikh for a fireside chat wherein he spoke about luxury travel and what it needs to do to remain sustainable. The concluding session saw Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan join in conversation with Hindustan Times national political editor Sunetra Choudhury wherein he talked about the Omicron Covid-19 vaccination coverage and the recent controversy related to stand-up comedians.
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Speaking with Hindustan Times editor-in-chief R Sukumar, Google and Alphabet Inc CEO Sundar Pichai said that “web 3.0 is early” but there is “considerable excitement around decentralised architecture.” “The internet is, at the end of the day, a community. It's the people driving it forward. As a company, we are always looking to contribute to it,” he added.
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Sundar Pichai said that he sees India as a place where over time, Google will be able to “build things and take it globally.” “The first example of it was Google Pay,” the Google CEO told R Sukumar, editor-in-chief, Hindustan Times.
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During conversation with CNBC-TV18 deputy editor Shruti Mishra, Sequoia Capital MD Rajan Anandan said that it is an “exciting time” currently for Indian startups. “10 years ago, we had zero unicorns…In 2015, we had four unicorns,” he said during the HTLS 2021 where MobiKwin COO and co-founder Upasana Taku was also present.
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MobiKwik co-founder and COO said at HTLS 2021 that the one thing common between private and public markets is the “male-centric ecosystem.”
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In the third session, hotelier and Soneva CEO Sonu Shivdasani told Brunch editor Jamal Sheikh that luxury doesn’t lie in objects but in “what’s rare.” “Fresh air, seeing the full moon, seeing the stars are much more valuable than gold, silver, or platinum. You cannot do that in Bombay, New York, or Delhi,” Shivdasani added.
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Hotelier and Soneva CEO Sonu Shivdasani said that luxury travel underwent change during the Covid-19 pandemic. Stressing on “sustainable tourism”, he added, “The hospitality and tourism industry has not yet truly embraced sustainable choices. It's only lip service. The opportunities are right there but have not yet been embraced.”
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In the concluding session at day 4 of HTLS 2021, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan spoke with Hindustan Times national political editor Sunetra Choudhary. He said that his government aims at fully vaccinating the entire adult population of the state by December end, and to make that happen, there is “no need for a sweeping vaccine mandate in Madhya Pradesh.”
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