PM Narendra Modi's tour of Google campus in Silicon Valley

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Google campus on Sunday in the Silicon Valley. Google CEO Sundar Pichai, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, announced to deliver high-speed internet at 500 railway stations in India. "There is a hunger in India to have more information and being able to connect. I remember taking the Coromandel Express every six months... to IIT Kharagpur and back. So we are very excited that we are starting with 100 of the busiest stations. We hope to expand it to 400 stations by the end of next year. We are talking about high-definition [wi-fi], video streaming being possible on these connections, so this is very, very high speed Internet," Pichai said.

A colorful staircase was decorated in preparation for Modi's visit at Google headquarters. The staircase highlights India's initiatives like Make in India, Digital India, etc.

"Next month we are going to take Android and make it possible for you to type in Android in 11 more languages, including the Prime Minister's mother-tongue of Gujarati," Pichai said.

Modi, who took a tour of the Google campus seeing the latest products and forward-looking researches, was given a presentation of Google Earth in which the ghats of his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi were shown. During his tour of Google campus, Modi asked that Khagaul in Bihar to be shown on Google Earth when he was given a glimpse of the unique tool. Khagaul near Patna is where the great ancient astronomer Aryabhatta had an observatory. Pichai explained navigational, safety and other uses of Street View and Google Earth to Modi.

Modi appreciated and encouraged Google to develop apps which could benefit the common man as he participated in Hackathon under which its employees sat for 15 hours straight to devise such apps for use in India.

Noting that technology has given new power to democracy, Modi urged Google employees to look for solutions to problems like poverty. The Prime Minister expressed confidence that technology will bring qualitative change in life with time and through its proper utilisation. In a lighter vein, he said technology was born to save time but what happened was just the opposite. "Today, everybody spends maximum time on the internet... Even when a child asks him mother to give milk, she says 'wait, first let me forward this WhatsApp'," Modi said, evoking laughter all around.

Google chef Irfan Dama prepares traditional Indian food during Modi's visit at the company's headquarters.

Before leaving Google, Modi had a group photo with its top officials. (L to R) Google co-founder Larry Page, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and an early investor Ram Sriram at the Google campus.

Modi takes selfies with members of the press during the visit to Google headquarters.