After Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, what India should expect from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s visit this week

Close on the heels of Mark Zuckerberg's departure from India, technology giant Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella is now set to visit the country on November 5 for 'Future Unleashed' - a conference by Microsoft in Mumbai for its customers, partners and developers.

For Hyderabad-born Nadella, this is his second official visit to the country after his first trip as the Microsoft chief executive in September 2014. The visit, coincidentally, will ensue on a day that marks Microsoft’s 25th anniversary in India. The company will launch a technical preview of Windows 9 at the conclave, and Nadella is likely to largely focus on what he can do for PM’s 'Digital India' initiative, particularly his plans to take technology to 5,00,000 Indian villages.

At the ‘Digital India’ dinner with Modi in September, Nadella had shared what he called a “haunting image” from his childhood in Andhra Pradesh to illustrate how digital India can change lives. He had said Microsoft would announce cloud services from Indian data centers as a key part of both Make in India and Digital India projects. He had also announced Microsoft's plans to take technology to rural India. “We believe low-cost broadband connectivity, coupled with the scale of cloud computing and the intelligence that can be harnessed from data, can help drive creativity, efficiency and productivity across governments and businesses of all sizes,” he had said.

In view of his promises then, he is expected to promote the firm's technology initiatives in his keynote address. He will highlight the benefits of Microsoft's local data centers (three of which went live in India only last month) for its partners and consumers. He may also focus on some local cloud-based innovations that are addressing issues related to health and education in India. Apart from making a couple of product announcements for India like much anticipated Surface Pro 4 (launched in the US last month), Nadella will interact with industry leaders, government stakeholders, customers and partners at the conclave where heads and senior officials from cross session of industries will be present ranging from Mahindra Group, Axis Bank, Tata Group, Starbucks, Robert Bosch, Honeywell, Kotak Bajaj, Fortis, Sony Corporation to HDFC Bank.

It's not a surprise that these big tech honchos are eyeing India as a booming market for technology. Facebook founder’s visit has done the needful by paving way for technology giants to make inroads and bear fruits from investing in a growing Indian economy. But, much of the credit also goes to our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Had it not been for him instilling confidence and advocating for his pet projects 'Digital India' and 'Make in India' during his extensive meetings with CEOs and industry experts including Zuckerberg, Nadella, Sundar Pichai during his US visit, there were far lesser chances for global companies to take sudden interest in tapping into the Indian market. Now that they have, India is highly likely to witness CEOs of top global tech firms outlining their company’s plans for the country in the days to come. It’s a welcome change.