Google not close to launching search engine in China: Sundar Pichai

Putting to rest the rumours of Google rolling out a customised version of its popular search engine service in China, CEO Sundar Pichai clarified that the company is not close to launching a search product.

However, Pichai did hint at doing more in the country which is infamous for its restrictive internet policies. Pichai's comments follow reports about Google building a custom-version of its search engine to abide by the Chinese rules and deliver censored search results, Cnet reported.

According to the report, the secretive project, codenamed Dragonfly, led to a protest by 1,000 Google employees who objected to the company's efforts at supporting the restrictive, state-sponsored censorship.

Although Pichai has dismissed reports about not being 'close to' launching the search engine, there have been confirmed reports about Google actually working on a censored version.