Rarely does someone’s departure from a company makes the headlines, but when the person is someone like Caesar Sengupta, the buzz in the news is well deserved. Today, the face of Google in India (after CEO Sundar Pichai, of course) has announced that he will be leaving the company next month, after 15 fine years of service.
“After ~15 wonderful years at Google I have decided to venture out and start on a new mission. I remain very positive about Google’s future but it’s time for me to see if I can ride without training wheels,” he said.
Over the course of his tenure, Sengupta has worked as VP and Product Lead at ChromeOS, the company’s desktop operating system that powers Chromebooks.
However, the role that helped Sengupta reach the heights of popularity that he has was the head of Google’s Next Billion Users initiative. If you don’t know, the initiative is focused at bringing internet to more and more users in developing markets, like India. As a part of Next Billion Users, Google has provided internet to railway stations around India, as well as launch Google Pay-one of the company’s most successful ventures till date.
Sengupta’s current position at the firm is VP and GM of Next Billion Users and Payments.
However, his journey is not ending. According to a Google spokesperson, Sengupta is leaving the company to “start something entrepreneurial outside of Google.” Moreover, he added that this was his personal decision, and that Google wishes him the best of luck.
“Through his time at Google, Caesar has played a key role in starting, building and leading initiatives such as ChromeOS, Next Billion Users and Google Pay. We are excited to see what he builds next and wish him the best in his new journey,” said the spokesperson.
“To the many, many Googlers working in Africa, APAC, LATAM and MENA, it has been inspiring to hear your voices take more weight in the products Google builds. I know there is so much more work to do,” Sengupta said.
