Caesar Sengupta, the long-time head of Google’s Next Billion Users initiative, is leaving the company next month, he said Monday. Sengupta, who additionally also led the company’s payments business in the past three years, is leaving the firm after nearly 15 years.

A regular fixture at Google’s events in India, Brazil, and Indonesia, Sengupta is best known outside the company for leading the company’s Next Billion Users initiative.

The Next Billion Users initiative has seen Google bring the internet to hundreds of railway stations and other public places in India and other markets — and then shut down this internet initiative project — launch Google Pay in India and build several products such as Android Go, Datally, Kormo Jobs and the Files apps.

“To the many, many Googlers working in Africa, APAC, LATAM and MENA, it has been inspiring to hear your voices take more weight in the products Google builds. I know there is so much more work to do,” Sengupta wrote in an email to his colleagues, which he also shared publicly.

“But we are light years ahead of where we were just a short time ago. You’ve helped digitize your economies, made Google feel local and driven Google’s investment into your countries to unprecedented levels.”

Under Sengupta’s watch, Google also made several investments in startups in Asia. Some of these investments include delivery startup Dunzo, Android lockscreen developer Glance, and popular news and entertainment app Dailyhunt.

Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

More to follow…