Google’s India Policy Head Sreenivasa Reddy Quits: Report

Google’s head of public policy in India, Sreenivasa Reddy, has reportedly quit in less than two years of his appointment. 

This is the second such departure at Google India in the past three years, after Archana Gulati, a former Indian antitrust official, also put down her papers as the big tech giant’s policy chief in 2022 after just five months in the role. 

According to Reuters, a Google spokesperson confirmed that Reddy “is no longer associated with the company,” without elaborating the reasons for his departure. In an internal memo seen by Reuters, Google said that Iarla Flynn, policy head for northern Europe, will serve as the interim policy lead for India. 

“India is a crucial market for Google, and we are deeply committed to its success,” the memo stated.

Reddy joined Google in September 2023 to lead public policy initiatives during a critical period when the company was navigating multiple antitrust cases while aggressively expanding its offerings in the country. 

Before joining Google, Reddy held significant positions at other big tech giants. He served as senior director of mixed reality (MR) engineering and head of extended reality (XR) regulatory affairs for Asia Pacific (APAC) and Middle East Asia (MEA) at Microsoft. Prior to that, he was the head of regulatory affairs at Apple India for more than three years.

Notably, Reddy’s exit comes as Google has been rejigging its top brass in the country. In December 2024, the company elevated Preeti Lobana as country manager and vice president for India, following Sanjay Gupta’s promotion to the role of president for the Asia-Pacific region.

Interestingly, Reddy’s departure also comes at a time when the company has been braving through choppy regulatory waters. In 2022, the big tech major was fined more than INR 2,200 Cr by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for abusing its dominance in the Android devices market and with regards to its Play Store policies. 

The company has also come under the radar of Indian authorities for failing to crack down on “fake news” and alleged misinformation. Last year, the company also faced the ire of the IT ministry after its AI chatbot Gemini gave some “unsavoury” responses about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As if this was not enough, the company has been in the line of fire from local developers and startups for charging high commissions on its app marketplace. 

Nevertheless, Google continues to be bullish on India and has been aggressively expanding its AI offerings in the country. It has also commenced manufacturing Pixel phones locally.

In addition, the tech giant has also been expanding its India footprint significantly, with recent initiatives including piloting RCS-Search integration for AI-powered business messaging, and discussions with various state governments for manufacturing facilities. 

In Tamil Nadu, the company has already signed MoUs for setting up AI labs and exploring manufacturing of its Pixel 8 smartphones.