Google Pay Exec Caesar Sengupta Plans April Exit

Google payments executive Caesar Sengupta is stepping down from the tech giant after 15 years to pursue new interests, Reuters reported on Monday (March 22), citing a LinkedIn post.

“My last day at Google will be April 30. I haven’t decided what I will start next,” said Sengupta, who is based in Singapore. He currently leads Google’s Next Billion Users (NBU) initiative. “I remain very positive about Google’s future but it’s time for me to see if I can ride without training wheels.”

Sengupta was a key player in getting Google Pay — with 150 million users in 30 countries — to take hold in India. He also facilitated a relaunch of Google Pay in the U.S. and Singapore and helped develop and led the ChromeOS team that launched Chromebooks. As head of Google’s NBU initiative, he oversees product strategy for India, Indonesia, Brazil and Nigeria.

“Through his time at Google, Caesar has played a key role in starting, building and leading initiatives such as ChromeOS, Next Billion Users and Google Pay. We are excited to see what he builds next and wish him the best in his new journey,” a Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement, per Reuters.

Google Pay’s revamp in the U.S. expanded the payments and eCommerce landscape to give users more options and control over transactions. The move is part of a larger payments strategy for the introduction of “smart” checking and savings accounts.

In a PYMNTS interview with Karen Webster, Sengupta and Josh Woodward, director of product management, said the open new approach would facilitate the introduction of streamlined, mobile-first eCommerce and banking tools ingrained as part of Google Pay.

He told Webster that Google Pay “brings three things together in one app” — payments, deals, and spending insights. 

In a 2019 column by Webster about Google Pay, the company said its “smart” DDA project, codenamed Cache, would launch in partnership with Citi and Stanford Federal Credit Union.