by Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The head of India’s public policy at Google has resigned after just five months in the job, two sources told Reuters, at a potentially critical time for the US tech giant as it awaits the outcome of at least two antitrust cases in the country.
The reasons for Archana Gulati’s resignation were not immediately clear.
Gulati, who previously worked for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal think-tank, declined to comment. A spokesperson for Google affiliate Alphabet (NASDAQ: Inc.) also declined to comment.
Google faces a series of antitrust cases in India and tougher regulations in the tech sector.
India’s competition watchdog is looking into Google’s business behavior in the smart TV market, the Android operating system, as well as the in-app payment system.
People familiar with the process said the watchdog is about to announce its decision in at least two antitrust cases against Google.
At Google, Gulati led a team of public policy executives looking at the company’s various regulatory implications in India, one of its key growth markets.
A longtime Indian government employee, she worked until March 2021 as joint secretary for digital communications at Modi’s federal think tank, Niti Aayog, an important cross-sectoral government policy-making body.
Prior to that, between 2014 and 2016, she worked as a senior official at the Indian Competition Commission, in the Mergers and Acquisitions division, according to her LinkedIn profile.
A number of Indian government officials have been appointed by big tech companies as they face tougher data and privacy regulation, as well as competition law scrutiny, under Modi’s federal government.
