Gajria Takes Reins at Google in Southeast Asia Amid Soaring AI Interest

Nitin Gajria has been appointed as the Managing Director for Southeast Asia and South Asia Frontier Markets at Google Asia Pacific. He will lead the company's commercial strategy to support digitalisation and AI-led growth across the region.

Gajria brings over 25 years of experience to the role, having previously led Google's Publisher Partnerships across APAC and overseeing investments in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The appointment comes as Southeast Asia sees growing interest in AI, with active users of Google's Gemini app more than doubling over the past year. Consumer interest in AI is also running three times higher than the global average, according to Google.

Gajria will build on Google's investments across the region, including expanding its footprint in frontier markets such as Pakistan and establishing an Applied AI Lab in Vietnam.