Why major global firms can’t get enough of Indian talent

Born in India, Sundar Pichai has been Google’s CEO since August 10, 2015. — AFP Relaxnews

From Parag Agrawal at Twitter to Sundar Pichai at Google and Satya Nadella at Microsoft, in the United States, several major tech firms are now led by Indians or Americans of Indian origin. The superior quality of Indian higher education and the technology boom in the country could explain why some of America’s biggest companies have snapped up Indian talent.

You can’t have missed the news that Jack Dorsey has now left his position as CEO of the Twitter social network. His successor was announced as Parag Agrawal – a 37-year-old Indian-American who has been with Twitter since 2011. Indeed, many Indians – by birth or by origin – now hold senior positions in major companies, especially in Silicon Valley, such as Sundar Pichai at Alphabet (Google) since 2019, Satya Nadella at Microsoft since 2014, Adobe boss Shantanu Narayen since 2007, Ajay Banga at Mastercard, and Arvind Krishna at IBM since 2020. And the list could go on. But why have so many Indians come to helm major American technology companies?