‘There was a joke…’: US envoy Garcetti on Indian-origin CEOs

US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti addresses the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, North India Council, Conference on “Strengthening Indo – US Relatioship in Amritkal-Aatmanirbhar Bharat” in Delhi

Hailing Indian immigrants to the United States, Eric Garcetti, the USA’s envoy to India, joked that one cannot become a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in America, unless they are from India.

“The old joke was that you could not become a CEO in the US if you are Indian. Now, the joke is that 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 told news agency ANI.

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Google’s chief executive is Sundar Pichai, who was born in Madurai, while Satya Nadella, his Microsoft counterpart, was born in Hyderabad. Starbucks’ Laxman Narasimhan was born in Pune.

Meanwhile Garcetti, his country’s representative in New Delhi since March 2023, also pointed to how around 10% of those heading Fortune 500 companies, are those who came to the States from India.

“The successes have happened. More than 1 in 10 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are now Indian immigrants who studied in the US,” the former mayor of Los Angeles said.

Also Read: Sundar Pichai on completing 20 years at Google

According to an October 2023 report, American citizens who consider their racial origin solely as Indian, grew more than 50% to nearly 4.4 million (44 lakh) from 2010 to 2020, making them the largest group of Asian-Americans. The United States has a population of around 330 million (33 crore).

‘Indian students safe in US’

Separately, speaking to PTI, ambassador Garcetti talked about the recent fatal incidents involving Indian students, stressing that his country is “safe.”

“We care so deeply for the well-being of Indian students. We want parents to know that their children are our children when they are in United States,” he said.

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