Silicon Valley gears up for India PM visit

Fresh off a Chinese president Xi Jinping’s swing through Silicon Valley, the technology industry is preparing for the visit of another foreign leader: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This week, Modi is embarking on a tech world tour that will take him to Facebook’s headquarters and see him meet with Apple’s Tim Cook.

{mosads}On Saturday, according to the Wall Street Journal, he’ll meet with Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and visit Tesla. The next day, he is planning visits to Google and Facebook. He will participate in a live town hall at the social network’s headquarters.

The companies are looking to make a good impression on Modi. India represents a huge market for any American firm — and potentially an even more lucrative one as more Indians connect to the Internet.

“The bond between India and Silicon Valley is strong. India has long been a supporter of talent to tech companies,” said the India-born CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, in a video welcoming Modi. “The products built by Indian graduates from [the Indian Institutes of Technology] and other institutions have helped to revolutionize the world. But it is India that is now undergoing its own revolution.”

They have praised Modi’s plan to bring more Indians online, called Digital India.

But U.S. tech has also had some policy spats in India, and with the Modi government. These are some of the issues could come up during Modi’s visit to the Valley.

Net neutrality

Earlier this year, Facebook announced that it was planning to roll out its Free Basics service (then called Internet.org Basic Services) to India.

The services allow people to access things like mobile banking for free, through deals Facebook has with their wireless carriers. Critics in the U.S. have contended that the service is simply a way for Facebook to amass customers in developing nations, disguised as altruism.

The backlash in India was also harsh. Several Indian companies who were partnering with Facebook to provide services pulled out of the project, citing worries that it was a blow to net neutrality — the idea that all traffic on the Internet should be treated the same way.

Activists have their own concerns about Internet regulation in India. A telecom regulator in the country put out a request for comments earlier this year on the topic that led to significant public ire, The Verge reported in April.

Meanwhile, net neutrality rules approved stateside in February by the Federal Communications Commission have earned the support of many tech companies, including Netflix, Amazon and Google.

Cybersecurity

Modi’s government is coming off its own fight over encryption policy amid a battle in the U.S. over data security.

This week, the Modi government withdrew a draft proposal that suggested that phone users save plain-text versions of all of their text and social media messages for 90 days after they send them in order to share them with law enforcement.

Regulators in India denied that the draft was the position of the government, saying it was merely that it was the product of a working group that was taking a look at the growth of encrypted messages. They noted that Modi is himself heavy user of social media.

“Our prime minister believes in absolute freedom on social media,” a spokeswoman said, according to The New York Times.

The fight comes as U.S. technology companies fight their own battle on encryption. The Washington Post reported this week that the White House had prepared several potential ways to offer law enforcement access to encrypted data but did not release them publicly.

A related memo reportedly said that any proposals “would quickly become a focal point for attacks.” Tech companies and activists have widely protested giving governments access to encrypted data.

Regulations

Several major companies have their own qualms with regulatory regimes in India.

Google is facing allegations from India’s competition regulator that it abuses its dominant position in the search business, after two organizations filed complaints against the company in 2012.

The charges are just a part of Google’s antitrust troubles. This week, Bloomberg reported the firm was facing a preliminary probe from the Federal Trade Commission into whether its Android smartphone operating system violated antitrust regulations. They are also in the midst of a dispute with European antitrust authorities.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that Amazon has concerns about the Indian laws governing how foreign companies can invest in the retail business. Under the rules, Amazon and other foreign companies act as a platform to connect sellers with buyers. Some have said that that is a loophole that needs to be closed.

Bringing more Indians online

Modi has his own plan to plug while he’s in the Valley: Digital India. The plan is aimed at giving millions of Indian citizens access to the Internet and connecting them with government services.

There are almost 1.1 billion Indians who lack access to the Internet, according to an October report from consulting firm McKinsey & Co.. The Modi government has pledged billions to bring them online. His plan, which includes trying to increase electronics manufacturing in India, also has the backing of many private funders.

Pichai praised the plan this week, saying that Google had contributed Chromebooks to schools in the country and was working to make the web more accessible to people who spoke languages native to India.

“Prime Minister Modi’s Digital India vision is central to this revolution,” he said. “It focuses on connecting the 1.2 billion in India. It has received tremendous support both in India and in Silicon Valley.”

The heads of Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft have all traveled to India in the wake of Modi’s election as prime minister in 2014 — as they look to expand further into the Indian market.