How are Oracle’s India operations growing?
We were one of the early investors in India. Over the years, we’ve been the largest or the second largest foreign direct investor in India. There is almost no operation that we do anywhere in the world that we don’t also do in India, and in many cases, lead in India. Of course, our technical teams are absolute killers. For us, when you join Oracle India, you may, if you want, end up being the head of a major group.
We don’t look at India as low cost, low quality. We don’t believe in that concept. For us, it’s part of our global chain that’s around the world. Our investments in education in India are absolutely critical, including underprivileged education, because there’s always incredible talent. Remember, India is our second largest location. We showed up 32 years ago, when no one was showing up.
Are there any fresh investment or expansion plans in India?
The thing that’s really critical now in expansions is our cloud expansion in India. One of the earliest clouds we put in, in fact the earliest cloud in Asia, was in India. Now we’ve embedded in Azure and in Google Cloud and no doubt there will be AWS. The uptake of cloud in India has been amazing. We have been expanding those sites immensely.
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My biggest worry is not lack of demand. My biggest worry is making sure I have supply to do the expansions. It’s only the beginning for India moving to the cloud. Around the world, too, it is still the beginning. I don’t know what percentage has moved to the cloud, but eight times of that still hasn’t. Our workloads do one of two things — they either hold the world’s most important data, or they actually run the company. And now, of course, there’s a lot of demand for AI training capability and inferencing, and we’re putting in a lot of capability there too, in India.How do you see India’s rising profile globally and challenges it may face?
It is no surprise to me, because you have unbelievably talented people who work spectacularly hard, who have freedom, and that often leads to spectacular results. Sometimes, doing business in India can be challenging because there are different groups who regulate you — nothing that can’t be overcome by folks who very much treasure and value it. So, (there is a need for) simplifying things, because sometimes it’s a little complicated. Sometimes tax authorities can make things a little complicated. But it’s not a barrier, ultimately. That’s the truth, by the way, in every country. So, I don’t really see anything in the way of the continued expansion and success of India.
How do you see Oracle pivoting with AI?
As with any new technology, it’s always very exciting as it first comes out. But really, AI ultimately is just like GPS or Internet of Things. Ultimately, it’s absorbed in everything. And we’ve been working in AI, in our labs and research centres, for a very long time. Now, we’ve launched 100 agents in the infusion, but that’s the glitzy stuff where you can summarise financials and all these things. That’s at the top level of our stack in all of our vertical applications, whether it’s hospitality, banking, retail, or utilities, infused throughout the whole thing. But as Oracle, we also have the platform, we have the database, which has incredible AI capabilities built in. So, AI for us is in every part of our stack, from the top to the bottom.
What role is India playing in Oracle infusing AI into its solutions?
India is so central to our company. It’s like you’re asking me what role my heart and lungs will play in my body — a big, big role. And some of the most incredible technical innovations at Oracle are from our teams in India. And, of course, for our expansion and for our customers, it plays a pretty important role.
—Annapurna Roy contributed to this article
