Google names new India chief

Google has appointed Preeti Lobana to lead its India business, filling a key position that had been vacant since Sanjay Gupta’s promotion to Asia-Pacific president in July.

Lobana, who was vice president of advertising technology at Google, takes over as the company pushes its AI products in India amid intensifying competition in the digital market. She joined Google in 2016.

India is one of the key overseas markets for Google, which has spent billions in helping hundreds of millions of Indians come online and in digitizing local businesses. In 2020, the company committed to spend another $10 billion in India.

But the search giant is also facing mounting regulatory scrutiny in the world’s second largest internet and wireless market. India fined Google $162 million in 2022 for anti-competitive practices on Android. Days later, it imposed another penalty of $113 million after concluding that the Android-maker had abused the dominant position of Google Play Store in the country, where more than 95% of smartphones run Android.

In March this year, the Indian antitrust regulator opened another investigation into Alphabet’s Google, alleging the tech giant implemented its in-app billing policies in an “unfair” and “discriminatory manner.”

Roma Datta Chobey, who served as interim chief, will return to running the company’s digital business unit.

Before joining Google, Lobana spent much of her career in banking, holding positions at NatWest, American Express, and Standard Chartered.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment to shape the future with AI, unlocking unprecedented opportunities for businesses to boost productivity, solve critical challenges, and create innovative solutions,” she wrote in a LinkedIn post.