Multinational CEOs, Prime Ministers and now the World Bank: Why India exports so many world leaders

The head of the World Bank has always been an American. This is not a written rule, but it was informally agreed upon when the organization was created at the end of World War II. Since then, the tradition has continued, with Bulgarian Kristalina Georgieva serving as interim president after the sudden resignation of her predecessor.

Although the current Joe Biden-backed candidate to replace David Malpass follows this pattern, he is not American by birth. Ajay Banga He became a citizen in 2007 but was born in Brunei, India. Despite building a successful career at North American companies—participating in the launch of brands like Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken and serving as CEO of Mastercard—he completed his studies in his home country and never denied his roots. He can always be seen in an eye-catching color Dastar On the head, a headdress associated with Sikhism, a religion that developed in the context of conflict between the tenets of Hinduism and Islam.

Banka may soon become the leader of the world’s leading growth company An increasingly important group of Indians and children of Indian immigrants who are at the top in various fieldsFrom technology to politics.

Rishi Sunak It is one of the most iconic examples of this moment. With parents of Indian origin, the British Prime Minister observes certain rituals and traditions. For example, on his desk is a small statue of Ganesha, one of the most revered deities in Hinduism, with a red string bracelet -or rakhi-, on his right hand, a sacred cord symbolizing the bond between brothers and reformation. At her Georgian home in North Yorkshire to include a yoga studio. The President has declared it publicly and on several occasions “Pride of His Religion and His Culture”.

Sunak is only one of them 200 Leaders of the Indian diaspora who have risen to the highest positions in government around the world. Antonio Costa in Portugal, Mohammad Irfan Ali in Guyana, Chandrikaparsad Chandokhi in Suriname, Prithviraj Singh Reuben and Pravind Jagnath in Mauritius, Kamala Harris in the US, Leo Varadkar in Ireland and last month Republican nominee Nikki Haley.

In some areas of government, “we’re as close to equality as there really isn’t.” I said The New York Times Neil Mahija is the executive director of Impact, an American Indian advocacy group.

There are Indians in America A higher income ethnic group. Size Notably, the CEO is of Indian origin or descent. Arvind Krishna Chairman of IBM, Shantanu Narayan of Adobe, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Sundar Pichai of Alphabet, Rajiv Suri of Nokia, Leena Nair of Channel and dozens more. Until recently, Indira Krishnamurthy Nooyi served as the CEO of PepsiCo and Barak Agarwal of Twitter, though she was fired when Elon Musk took over the social network.

with 1400 million peopleIndia is the most populous country in the world, so one could argue that the success of Indians abroad is down to simple probability. However, China, with roughly the same population, did not get the same result. A study by the MIT Sloan School of Business Administration and Management revealed that in 2020. On average, 10.38 CEOs are at the helm of S&P 500 companies from South Asia and 3.5 from East Asia.There are 1.6 times more East Asians than South Asians in America.

He explains that this does not mean that the Chinese are less skilled, but rather that the profile of immigrants is different. Nation The Dean of SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai Dr. Varun Nagaraj.

In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, “bright” graduates from India’s top engineering and other hard science universities, heavily invested by the government, went abroad to pursue their careers abroad—mainly in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Economic opportunities in the country are almost non-existentSays Vidyaman.

“The top executives of today’s largest and fastest-growing companies come from this group of high-performing graduates. So it was inevitable that this elite team would win surprisingly,” he added.

As far back as 2001, a report by the High Level Committee on Indian Diaspora noted: “The Indian community enjoys the distinction of being one of the highest income, best educated and fastest growing ethnic groups… Over the past decade, a segment of American Indians has emerged that is financially powerful and politically connected.

Currently, 70% of the American Indian-origin population has a college degree, compared to the national average of only 28%.According to a recent study by RPG Enterprises published in January this year.

On the other hand, in China, there are workers More opportunities in the country They can earn the same amount as anywhere else in the world. In 2014, Chinese tech executives earned an average of $130,000 a year, not far from the $160,000 they could earn in the United States at the time. Relieving grief Wall Street Journal. In India, managers at that time earned only $35,000.

And so has India in the last 15 years Lifted 415 million people out of povertyAs the UN report on the 2021 Multidimensional Poverty Index points out, poverty remains a major challenge (there are still 228.9 million poor people in the country).

“Indians are used to facing difficult situations because growing up in India is not easy,” he says Nation R Gopalakrishnan, former CEO of Tata Sons and co-editor of The Made in India Manager. “The Enormous diversity of races, languages, castes and religions Coexistence in India prepares citizens to adapt to challenging and dynamic environments, the business world or other more complex fields,” adds the expert.

However, this migration trend will soon reverse, experts predict. In the last decade, as Improved economic opportunities in IndiaMost of the “best graduates” have chosen Work in the country, or are directly employed by foreign companies. “It’s interesting, in raw numbers, that more students are going to America today than ever before, but They are not the ‘elite shock troops’ deployed in the 1980s and 1990s.. Will the current crop of Indian students going abroad be as successful as previous cohorts? It’s hard to say,” says Nagaraj.

The Information Technology (IT) sector has increased its contribution to India’s GDP from 1.2% in 1998 to nearly 10% in 2019.. According to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASCOM), the sector added $180,000 million in revenue in 2019, with $99,000 million coming from exports of services (with the US representing two-thirds of that total).

“The government encourages entrepreneurship and helps high-tech industries. At last, there were 100 unicorns in India. This is facilitated by government policies and something to learn from Argentina,” Vivek Vada, an American tech entrepreneur and distinguished academic fellow at the Carnegie Mellon School of Engineering and Workforce and Development Program in Silicon Valley, said in the release. from Harvard Law School,

Another point in favor of Indians is English is one of the official languages from the country. Also, the Indian education system’s emphasis on mathematics and science (STEM) is much higher than that of Western countries, which has given them an advantage and better pay in technical fields today.

“Indian children are forced to study STEM because parents think it’s a passport to a better life. And Indian children listen to their parents, often with complacency.”Gopalakrishnan says.

Wadhwa highlights another element of culture that supports the performance of Indian citizens in highly complex and stressful situations: “encouraging Yoga, meditation and mindfulness culture It has its roots in Buddhism and Hinduism – enabling Indians to face problems more calmly.