Leadership shift to boost Google Cloud’s India play

In a move that signals Google Cloud’s growing ambition in India, Sashikumar Sreedharan has been appointed as the new MD, Google Cloud India. His appointment comes at a time when Indian enterprises are rapidly shifting gears—embracing AI, migrating workloads to the Cloud, and building data-first strategies across sectors.

Sashikumar Sreedharan returns to a country role with Google Cloud India

Sreedharan, a well-regarded tech leader with over 30 years in the industry, was previously the Chief Operating Officer for Google Cloud across Asia Pacific (APAC). In that regional role, he helped scale operations in some of the world’s most complex markets. Now, with India fast becoming one of the most competitive cloud markets globally, Google has handed him the reins to deepen its enterprise presence and take on both homegrown and global rivals.

“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Managing Director – Google Cloud (India) at Google!” said Sashikumar Sreedharan.

Return to India signals deeper local intent

Sreedharan is not new to large mandates in India. Before joining Google, he served as MD, Microsoft India. He led transformative engagements with top enterprises and played a hands-on role in steering their cloud journeys. That experience now becomes a strong lever for Google Cloud as it looks to strengthen its foothold in BFSI, healthcare, manufacturing and the government sector.

India’s Cloud market is growing at breakneck speed. According to industry estimates, it could cross Rs 1.5 lakh crore (approx. USD 18 billion) by 2027. With tech spending rising across public and private sectors, cloud providers are battling for mindshare, market share and innovation dominance.

And Google Cloud is clearly done playing catch-up.

What Sreedharan brings to the table

• Experience across roles and regions – From technologist to COO, Sreedharan has seen the IT services space evolve firsthand from on-premise to SaaS, and now to GenAI and hybrid cloud.

• Enterprise intimacy – Having managed India’s largest customers at Microsoft, he understands the nuances of enterprise buying behaviour, CIO mindsets and ecosystem challenges.

• Operational maturity – His stint in APAC gives him a regional lens on what works, where to scale and how to adapt to local regulatory and talent realities.

With this context, Sreedharan’s appointment is more than just a change at the top—it’s an intent to localise deeply, respond faster to industry needs and accelerate momentum across sectors.

Sub-head (italicised paragraph text):

Cloud, AI and India Inc.

India is no longer just a growth market. It’s a testbed for scale, resilience and complexity. Enterprises here are using Cloud not just to save cost, but to build competitive advantage—from predictive analytics in agriculture to AI-led diagnostics in healthcare.

That’s where Sreedharan’s focus will be sharpest:

• Expand strategic partnerships with system integrators and ISVs

• Target digital natives and mid-sized enterprises with flexible cloud stacks

• Double down on AI/ML capabilities to drive differentiated use cases

• Invest in ecosystem talent and regional data capabilities to address compliance and data sovereignty concerns

An appointment with a purpose

Sreedharan holds a B.Tech degree from the Government College of Engineering, Trivandrum. His journey—from early tech roles to steering cloud strategy at a regional level—has been marked by a consistent focus on transformation and scale.

With this move, Google Cloud has placed a trusted hand at the tiller. Someone who understands not just how Cloud works, but how India works. His leadership is expected to inject both urgency and clarity into Google Cloud’s India playbook.

For Indian enterprises navigating a future defined by data, AI and distributed infrastructure, that’s a welcome shift.

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