Former IBM Executive Karan Bajwa Appointed Google Cloud India MD

Bajwa will be responsible for driving revenue and go-to-market operations for Google Cloud’s extensive solution portfolio that includes Google Cloud Platform and G Suite. Google Cloud’s field sales, partner and customer engineering organisations in India will also report to him, and he will advise Google Cloud’s continued work with local developer ecosystem and India-based Global System Integrators (GSIs).

Making the announcement, Rick Harshman, managing director Google Cloud in Asia Pacific said, “Karan is a veteran in the industry with a proven track record of building and growing successful enterprise businesses. His experience will be a tremendous asset to Google Cloud’s business, our partners and our customers as we embark on this next phase of growth.”

Google Cloud India has been hiring rapidly over the past couple of years to expand its footprint in the country which is a key region for the growth of its cloud business.

In September, then Google Cloud India head Nitin Bawankule had quit the company to join Star India as head of ad sales.

“I’m very excited about this new challenge and I look forward to extending Google’s global momentum in India. Leveraging cloud computing technology to modernize and scale for growth is on the agenda of almost every enterprise CEO and CIO and Google Cloud is committed to help every organization accelerate their digital transformation,” Bajwa said.

A senior leader with over three decades of leadership experience, Bajwa joins Google Cloud from IBM where he served as India and South Asia managing director. Prior to IBM, he worked with Microsoft for nine years, his last role being managing director for the company’s operations in India. He has also worked with Cisco Systems in India and Singapore.

IBM India started the year with the loss of two senior leaders– India MD Bajwa and APAC CEO Harriet Green.

After Bajwa’s exit, IBM announced the appointment of Sandip Patel as managing director of India & South Asia operations.

In India, businesses working with Google Cloud include Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Indiamart, Hero Motocorp, ICICI Prudential, L&T Finance, LIC HFL, Manipal Hospitals, OYO Hotels and Homes, Truecaller, and Wipro.

Earlier this month, the company announced plans to expand its presence in India by launching a cloud region in Delhi, adding to its Mumbai region which was opened in 2017.

―Livemint