The secret to Google CEO's success: Relax and have fun.

Sundar Pichai offered some life and career advice to students at a university in India.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently gave a talk at India's Kharagpur Institute of Technology. Students asked how they could achieve success like him by pursuing their dreams, taking risks, and innovating.

His answer was a stark contrast to a country where parents often put immense academic pressure on their children to secure good jobs later in life. "Education is important, but not to the extent people think," Pichai stated. He emphasized that when he was studying engineering at university more than 20 years ago, he also stayed up late, slept in class, and even received a C in one subject.

Sundar Pichai at yesterday's talk. Photo: AFP

"I study quite hard, but I still have to have fun," he said. Pichai advises students to "know how to balance things," pursuing their interests and accumulating experiences. "It's a long journey, and a few setbacks are nothing," he said.

Pichai graduated from university in India, then went to the US to study at Stanford University and the Wharton School of Business. He joined the search giant in 2004 and was appointed CEO in 2015.

Also this week, he revealed in New Delhi that he would be stepping up efforts to help small businesses connect to the internet and increase the number of users there to over 1.2 billion. He said India has the potential to become a "global player in the digital economy," as more and more people gain access to the internet, especially through high-end smartphones. However, a small segment of the population still lacks internet access, particularly women in rural areas.

Towards the end of the talk, when a student asked Pichai for advice on how to make the most of his four years in college, he simply replied, "I don't think too much about it."

According to VNE