‘Can’t be CEO in America if not Indian’: US envoy’s humorous take on immigration
Upstox
2 min read • Updated: April 26, 2024, 5:04 PM
Summary
“The old joke was you could not become a CEO in the US if you are Indian, now the joke is you cannot become a CEO in America if you are not Indian, whether it is Google, Microsoft or Starbucks, people have come and made a big difference,” US envoy Eric Garcetti said.
Indian immigrants have emerged as an essential part of the American business ecosystem, and have earned top spots in some of the leading companies across the globe, said Eric Garcetti, the US Ambassador to India, while speaking at an event in New Delhi on April 26.
In a lighter vein, he told the gathering that one cannot become a chief executive officer (CEO) of a company in the US unless the person is of Indian origin.
“The old joke was you could not become a CEO in the US if you are Indian, now the joke is you cannot become a CEO in America if you are not Indian, whether it is Google, Microsoft or Starbucks, people have come and made a big difference,” Garcetti said.
Alphabet, the parent entity of Google, is led by Indian techie Sundar Pichai as its chief executive since December 2019. Rival Microsoft is helmed by Indian-origin Satya Nadella as its CEO since 2014. Meanwhile, Laxman Narsimhan, another Indian-origin business executive, is heading Starbucks as its CEO from 2022.
How immigration helped? Garcetti points out
Garcetti highlighted that some of the top business leaders are those Indians who immigrated to the United States, pursued college education, and seasoned themselves in the American business hubs.
"The successes have happened, more than 1 in 10 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies now are Indian immigrants who studied in the US,” he said.
A recent study conducted by economists at Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project found that new immigrants have raised the US economy’s supply of workers, without causing any accelerating inflation.
India, a primary source of tech workers to the US, is key to America's vision towards filling its weaknesses with an ally’s strength, Garcetti had suggested earlier, while addressing 'The TechSurge India Summit' in October.
“There are no two nations on this globe who together can do this work better, fill each other's weaknesses with the other strengths, and show a model of what it means to do with democratic values that put people in the centre of this technological revolution,” he had said.