With a population of over 1.4 billion, India clinched the title of the world’s most populous country, overtaking China in 2023. Strikingly, about 65% of the Indian population is aged between 15 and 64, giving the nation a significant advantage in leveraging the potential of a large working-age population.
However, India’s global footprint extends beyond these numbers. The country is fast approaching another milestone, becoming the largest international student body in US universities.
In the 2022-23 academic year alone, US universities saw an enrollment of nearly 2,69,000 Indian students, marking a remarkable 35% surge.
This educational migration is part of a broader trend. As of 2024, over 5.4 million Indians made the USA their home, with more than 3.3 million categorised as Persons of Indian Origin.
Recently, a user on X pointed out that of the Fortune 500 companies, 16 are led by Indian-origin CEOs.
But is that something to brag about?
Story of Every Indian in the US
Despite the rising number of Indian students pursuing education in the USA, their path is far from smooth.
They face significant challenges in securing even internships, attributed to a slowdown in job growth and heightened competition during election years. Factors such as rising inflation, increased cost of living, and sponsorship difficulties further compound their challenges.
But for whoever cracks it there, it’s definitely an achievement to celebrate.
When Parag Agrawal was appointed the CEO of Twitter in 2021, it sparked discussions on the factors contributing to the success of Indian-origin individuals in senior positions within tech companies.
Some reports suggested that cultural shifts and strategic innovations spearheaded by Indian-origin CEOs played a pivotal role in the growth trajectory of companies like Microsoft and Google.
Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella offered a different perspective in his book ‘Hit Refresh’. “Our industry does not respect tradition. What it respects is innovation,” he emphasised.
Indians Stay, but Don’t Rule
Even as Indians migrate to the US, the old habit of being bossed around by other countrymen seems to persist – a shadow of the past.
Indian Americans constitute the second-largest immigrant population in the US. However, it’s notable that Indians are not widely represented in leadership roles across many of the world’s top companies.
According to the CompTIA report, there are over 5,57,000 software and IT service companies in the US, with approximately 13,400 tech startups launched in 2019 alone. However, only a small fraction of individuals, who were previously Indian citizens but are now US citizens, hold higher positions there.
Despite India’s prominence in the tech industry and the presence of thousands of alumni from the IITs in the US since the 1960s, Indian passport holders occupying top positions in globally significant institutions remains rare.
On the Other End
Indian IT giants have established a robust presence in the US. According to the HDFC Securities report, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) employs 50,000 people, Infosys 35,000, HCL Technologies 24,000, Wipro 20,000, and LTI Mindtree 6,500.
Together, these companies account for approximately 2% of the US tech industry workforce.
Harbir K Bhatia, the CEO of the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce, told the Press Trust of India, “India is one of the largest leaders of innovation in Silicon Valley. Data shows that 40% of Silicon Valley CEOs or founders are from South Asia or India.”
Apple, a leader in the global tech industry, also reflects this trend, with nearly 35% of its workforce being of Indian origin.
Adding to this narrative, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, in an interview with CNN-TV18, mentioned that Microsoft employs the second-largest number of engineers from India.
When asked about the increasing number of CEO positions held by people of Indian origin, Nadella said, “In a country of 1 billion plus people, we should be seeing one-fifth of the CEO posts being held by Indians.”
Time to Come Back to India
Whatever the US offers, maybe Indians there consider coming back and establishing their talent here.
Recently, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said that all the big tech companies including Google, Microsoft, Adobe and IBM in the world are run by Indians, but there is no Indian big-tech company in the world.
“We feel proud of our Indians who are running global big tech companies, but there’s no big tech company that we can call Indian,” he said.
Reflecting on the same lines, Shekar Sivasubramanian, the CEO of Wadhwani AI, had earlier mentioned that he came back to India as this is the best place to experiment and innovate.
But given India’s current population, the idea of welcoming back our fellow countrymen raises concerns about further population growth. It’s hard to ignore the words of our favourite leader, Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy, who pointed out the rising population is a major concern.
“Since the Emergency period, we Indians have not paid enough attention to population control. This poses a risk of making our country unsustainable. In comparison, countries such as the US, Brazil and China have far higher per capita land availability,” he said.
