Google Cloud India taps Amit Kumar as interim head after Sashikumar exit

Google Cloud has named Amit Kumar, its Managing Director for Digital Natives in India, as interim head of the country’s operations following the departure of Sashikumar Sreedharan. The change was first reported by YourStory.

Kumar’s appointment comes as Google Cloud doubles down on enterprise AI adoption in India, a market where pilot projects are now transitioning to production-scale deployments. When we covered Kumar’s remarks last month, he emphasized a shift from AI model discussions to "agentic value"—a focus on hybrid cloud sovereignty and engineering talent over formal degrees. That framing aligns with Google Cloud’s recent moves, including the rollout of Gemini-powered text-to-speech models and partnerships like NextLM’s AI sales tool on the Google Cloud Marketplace.

The leadership change arrives amid broader challenges in India’s AI talent pool. A TeamLease Digital report from last week highlighted a stark skills gap, with only a fraction of IT professionals trained in advanced AI despite surging demand. Google Cloud’s strategy—tying Gemini models to infrastructure and upskilling initiatives—may now fall more directly under Kumar’s oversight.

No timeline for a permanent replacement has been disclosed. Observers will watch whether Kumar’s interim role accelerates Google Cloud’s enterprise push or signals a longer-term restructuring in India’s competitive cloud market.

Sources: yourstory.com