For decades now, Indians have been playing a focal role in the success of technology powerhouses globally. Producing the leaders of the world’s most influential companies, who are playing a vital role in their growths is something not many nations can boast of!
There is a whole range of companies starting from IBM, Cognizant, and Adobe to tech giants like Google and Microsoft, mobile mammoths like Nokia, and content kings like OnlyFans, where the CEOs are of Indian origins and are upping the game no doubt. furthermore
Curious to find out who? Then, here is a list of the Indian-origin CEOs who are ruling the world.
Indian CEOs in Reputed Companies Across the Globe
- Sundar Pichai
- Satya Nadella
- Laxman Narasimhan
- Parag Agrawal
- Leena Nair
- Amrapali 'Ami' Gan
- Shantanu Narayen
- Sanjay Mehrotra
- Sanjay Jha
- Rajeev Suri
- George Kurian
- Revathi Advaithi
- Francisco D’Souza
- Dinesh Paliwal
- Ashok Vemuri
- Nikesh Arora
- Anjali Sud
- Ajaypal Singh Banga
- Arvind Krishna
- Jayshree Ullal
- Rangarajan Raghuram
Conclusion
FAQs
Indian CEOs in Reputed Companies Across the Globe
Here are the Indian-origin CEOs who are leading the most successful companies in the world.
Sundar Pichai
Company Name: Google and Alphabet
Market Cap: Alphabet ($1,924 billion in 2021)
Term of Office: Google (From 2015 - Present); Alphabet (From 2019 - Present)
Pichai Sundararajan, also known as Sundar Pichai, was born in Tamil Nadu, India. He earned a degree from IIT Kharagpur in metallurgical engineering and is a distinguished alumnus of that institution. He holds an M.S. from Stanford University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he got the name of a Siebel Scholar and a Palmer Scholar. Pichai began his career as a materials engineer and joined Google as a management executive in 2004 and became the CEO of Google in the year 2015. Pichai was also named as the CEO of Google parent, Alphabet in December 2019, when he replaced Larry Page.
Satya Nadella
Company Name: Microsoft
Market Cap: $2,527 billion (2021)
Term of Office: From 2014 - Present
Hyderabad-born Satya Nadella has a BE from the Manipal Institute of Technology, an MS from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He became the CEO of Microsoft succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014. He also succeeded John W. Thompson and was named the Chairman of Microsoft in 2021.
Laxman Narasimhan
Company Name: Starbucks
Market Cap: $95.16 (2022)
Term of Office: 2022 onwards
Pune-born Laxman Narasimhan has been named as Starbucks's next Chief Executive Officer. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering, University of Pune, an MA degree in German and International Studies from The Lauder Institute and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.
Laxman was serving as the CEO of Reckitt Benckiser and he will be stepping down from his position on September 30, 2022, to join the renowned coffee chain as its CEO on October 1, 2022. For now, he will be working with the current CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz before completely assuming the CEO role and joining the board on April 1, 2023.
Parag Agrawal
Company Name: Twitter
Market Cap: $38.5 billion (2021)
Term of Office: 2021 - Present
Born in Ajmer, Rajasthan on May 21, 1984, Parag Agrawal was schooled at Atomic Energy Central School No.4., where he studied with the renowned singer Shreya Ghoshal. Agrawal sat for the Joint Entrance Exam, where he was placed 77th, thereby seizing a chance to be admitted at the IIT Bombay. He completed his B.Tech. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the same institute in 2005. Parag then decided to pursue a PhD in computer science from Stanford University, US.
Parag served several leadership positions at Microsoft Research and Yahoo! Research before he joined Twitter. Parag Agarwal joined Twitter as a software engineer in 2011 where he is currently serving as the CEO, after the former CEO, Jack Dorsey stepped down. Agrawal was promoted to the post of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in October 2017, when he replaced Adam Massinger. This was the last designation that he served prior to being named as the Chief Executive Officer of the company on November 29, 2021. He was selected to be in charge of Project Bluesky back in December 2019, which is an initiative to develop a decentralized social network protocol by the then CEO, Jack Dorsey.
Parag Agrawal is known to be a lover of cars and computers. Maths was always Agrawal's forte, said his parents. He was the winner of the gold medal at the International Physics Olympiad of 2001, which was held in Turkey.
Leena Nair
Company Name: Chanel
Market Cap: $11.5 billion (2021)
Term of Office: January 2022 onwards
Born on June 11, 1969, in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, Leena Nair was an Electronics Engineering student of Walchand College of Engineering. After completing her graduation, Leena went for XLRI Jamshedpur from where she came out as a gold medallist. Nair joined Anglo-Dutch company Unilever and was notably appointed as the Chief Human Resource Officer of the firm in 2016. She was recognized as the youngest, first female, and the first Asian ever to achieve the feat. Leena served many leadership positions in the same company before being appointed as the CHRO. Recently, Leena Nair was again announced the CEO of the French fashion brand Chanel. She will allegedly be quitting her present company and joining Chanel, assuming her new office in January 2022.
Amrapali 'Ami' Gan
Company Name: OnlyFans
Valuation: $1 billion (2021)
Term of Office: December 2021 onwards
Amrapali Gan has been named the new CEO of the London-based internet content subscription service company, OnlyFans on December 21, 2021, with the founder of the company Tim Stokely stepping down from the role. The NRI Indian CEO has already assumed office on the same date. Amrapali Gan, or 'Ami' Gan, as she is nicknamed, has completed her early and higher education in California, US.
Gan has completed her Associate of Arts degree in Merchandise Marketing from FIDM. She then pursued a Bachelor of Arts in PR and Organisational Communications from California State University. Furthermore, she also went to earn her Certificate of Entrepreneurship from Harvard Business School Online. Ami had worked as a consultant with Arcade Agency for around 4 years before being appointed as the CEO of OnlyFans.
Shantanu Narayen
Company Name: Adobe Inc.
Market Cap: $325 billion (2021)
Term of Office: From 2007 - Present
Born in Hyderabad, India, Shantanu Narayan started his career at Apple. He holds a Bachelor in Science from Osmania University, an MBA from the University of California, Berkley, and an MS from Bowling Green State University. Narayen joined Adobe in 1998 and got promoted to CEO in December 2007, at the age of 45. Narayen also represented India in sailing at an Asian Regatta and got his name among the world's best CEOs by Barron's Magazine in the year 2016.
Sanjay Mehrotra
Company Name: Micron
Market Cap: $95 billion (2021)
Term of Office: 2017 - Present
Kanpur-born Sanjay Mehrotra started his college at BITS Pilani and then transferred to the University of California, Berkeley from where he obtained a Bachelor's and a Master's in Electrical Engineering and in Computer Science. He is the current CEO of Micron Technology, who assumed office when Mark Durcan retired in February 2017. Previously, he co-founded SanDisk, where he served as the president and CEO until its acquisition by Western Digital in 2016.
Sanjay Jha
Company Name: GlobalFoundries and Motorola
Market Cap: GlobalFoundries ($35 billion in 2021); Motorola Mobility ($12.14 billion in 2021)
Term of Office: 2014 - 2018
He is the former chief executive officer (CEO) of GlobalFoundries and the former chairman and CEO of Motorola Mobility. Before that, he was the chief operating officer of Qualcomm. Jha was born in Bhagalpur, Bihar, and holds a BS from the University of Liverpool and a PhD from the University of Strathclyde.
Rajeev Suri
Company Name: Nokia
Market Cap: $31.46 billion (2021)
Term of Office: 2014 - 2021
Rajeev Suri is an Indian–Singaporean business executive and the former CEO of Nokia from New Delhi, India. Suri joined Nokia in 1995 and held various key positions before being the President and CEO in April 2014, which was after Nokia had bought back full control of the NSN and sold its phone division to Microsoft Mobile. Suri holds a B-Tech from the Manipal Institute of Technology. After he left his office at Nokia, Suri in 2020 giving way to its new CEO, Pekka Lundmark, Suri joined Inmarsat, where he joined as a CEO effective from March 1, 2021, onwards.
George Kurian
Company Name: NetApp
Market Cap: $20 billion (2021)
Term of Office: 2015 - Present
After serving as the executive vice president of product operations for two years at Netapps, George Kurian became the CEO and President of the company in June 2015. Born in Kottayam district, Kerala, he pursued engineering at IIT-Madras, but left six months later to join Princeton University; he also holds an MBA degree from Stanford.
Revathi Advaithi
Company Name: Flex (formerly Flextronics)
Market Cap: $8 billion
Term of Office: 2019 - Present
The CEO of Flex and an advocate of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), Revathi Advaithi is an Indian-American business executive, who was born in India. Advaithi started her career as a shop floor supervisor in Eaton, joined Honeywell, and returned to Eaton again, where she worked for 10 long years after becoming the COO. She eventually left Eaton and joined Flex as the company's CEO in 2019. Revathi is an alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BS) and Thunderbird School of Global Management (MBA). She is an independent director for the board of directors of Uber and Catalyst.org along with her present role. Besides, she also is a member of the MIT Presidential CEO Advisory Board. Revathi was also featured in Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women list in 2019 and 2020.
Francisco D’Souza
Company Name: Cognizant
Market Cap: $41.72 billion (2021)
Term of Office: 2007 - 2019
Francisco D’Souza is among the youngest CEOs in the software services sector and a member of the company’s board of directors. D’Souza joined Cognizant as a co-founder in 1994 and went on to become its CEO in 2007. The son of an Indian, D’Souza was born in Kenya and is distinguished as the former CEO and Vice Chairman of Cognizant. He holds a BBA from the University of East Asia, Macau, and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.
Dinesh Paliwal
Company Name: Harman International
Market Cap: $7.79 billion (2021)
Term of Office: 2007 - 2020
Born in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Paliwal holds a BE and an MS degree from IIT Roorkee. He also obtained an MBA from Miami University. Paliwal is known as the former President and CEO of Harman International, an independent subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, who stepped down from both of the positions and is currently appointed among the Board of Directors of the company. Prior to joining Harman, he spent 22 years with ABB Group, where he held the dual role of President of ABB Group with responsibility for the company’s global P&L, and Chairman/CEO - ABB North America.
Ashok Vemuri
Company Name: Conduent Inc. of Xerox Corporation
Market Cap: $1.12 billion (2021)
Term of Office: 2016 - 2019
New Delhi-born Ashok Vemuri is one among the Board of Directors for Financial Policy and Public Responsibilities at Kroger and was the former Chief Executive Officer of IGATE and Conduent. Xerox, the 110-year-old document technology company that over the years came to symbolize everything associated with photocopying, named former iGate appointed CEO Ashok Vemuri as the new CEO of its back-office outsourcing company, Conduent. Vemuri was also appointed as the Executive Vice President and CEO of Xerox Business Services LLC.1
Nikesh Arora
Company Name: Palo Alto Networks
Market Cap: $54 billion (2021)
Term of Office: 2018 - Present
Nikesh Arora took the role of CEO and Chairman at Palo Alto Networks in June 2018. Prior to this, he worked with Google and SoftBank. Born to an Indian Air Force Officer, Arora holds a Btech degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT BHU, Varanasi. Furthermore, Arora also holds a degree from Boston College and an MBA from Northeastern University. Nikesh Arora has retained the CFA that he earned in 1999.
Anjali Sud
Company Name: Vimeo
Market Cap: $3 billion
Term of Office: 2017 - Present
Born in the USA, Detroit, Anjali Sud is an American businesswoman of Indian origin and is popularly known as the CEO of Vimeo. Sud opted to study at the private school, Phillips Andover Academy at the age of 14. She eventually received a B.Sc. degree in Finance and Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and later topped it off with an MBA from Harvard Business School. Sud was appointed as a Vimeo CEO in July 2017. She previously served as a General Manager and the Head of Marketing of the company. Sud is also counted as a Board member of Dolby Laboratories. Furthermore, Sud is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. She is also listed by Fortune in 2018 under its 40 Under 40 rising business leaders.
Ajaypal Singh Banga
Company Name: Mastercard
Market Cap: $314.61 billion (2021)
Term of Office: 2010 - 2020
Beginning his business career with Nestlé in 1981, Pune-born Ajaypal Singh Banga was appointed as the President and CEO of Mastercard back in July 2010 and retained his office till December 31, 2020, after which he stepped down giving way to Michael Miebach. He completed his primary education from the Hyderabad Public School in Begumpet and he went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University followed by PGP in Management from the IIM Ahmedabad.
Arvind Krishna
Company Name: IBM
Market Cap: $106 billion (2021)
Term of Office: 2020 - Present
The CEO of IBM, who has recently been the Chairman on January 1, 2021, Arvind Krishna was born in Dehra Dun, India. He completed his schooling at St Joseph's Academy, Dehradun, and the Stanes School, Coonoor, Tamil Nadu. He then received a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1985 and eventually got a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering. Krishna began his career at IBM as an engineer in IBM Research and got promoted to CEO in 2020. He is currently serving IBM as its CEO and Chairman.
Jayshree Ullal
Company Name: Arista Networks
Market Cap: $38.7 billion (2021)
Term of Office: 2008 - Present
Jayashree Ullal, the President, and CEO of Arista Networks was raised in New Delhi and attended San Francisco State University from where she graduated with a B.S. in Engineering. She then went on to obtain a Master's degree in Engineering Management from Santa Clara University.
Rangarajan Raghuram
Company Name: VMware
Market Cap: $51 billion (2021)
Term of Office: 2021 - Present
Rangarajan Raghuram currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer - Products and Cloud Services of VMWare, who assumed his office on June 1, 2021. Raghuram joined the company back in 2003 and has held multiple key leadership positions, thus being responsible for influencing the company's strategies and bringing forth a technological revolution that VMWare has seen.
Conclusion
CEOs are integral to a company. He/she, when appointed as the CEO of a particular company, manages and monitors the day-to-day operations of the firm, and also stands responsible for strategic planning and decision-making. The CEO is the person who determines the direction of a business, and is thus, a respectable as well as a valuable asset of the company. Therefore, it feels exceptionally good to be an Indian when you get to hear that the CEOs of such big companies that are shaping the modern world are Indian in origin. Hope you find this list of Indian-origin CEOs at the top companies globally useful and informative!
FAQs
Who is the highest paid CEO of India?
Mukesh Ambani, The CEO of Reliance Industries is the highest paid CEO of India.
Who are the top 10 CEO in world?
Top 10 CEO in world are:
- Elon Musk
- Satya Nadella
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Andy Jassy
- Tim Cook
- Jeff Bezos
- Jack Dorsey
- Arvind Krishna
- Warren Buffett
- Jamie Dimon
Who are the Indian Origin CEOs leading the world?
Some of the top Indian origin CEOs leading the world are:
- Sundar Pichai
- Satya Nadella
- Parag Agrawal
- Leena Nair
- Amrapali 'Ami' Gan
- Shantanu Narayen
- Sanjay Mehrotra
- Sanjay Jha
- Rajeev Suri
- George Kurian
- Revathi Advaithi
- Francisco D’Souza
- Dinesh Paliwal
- Ashok Vemuri
- Nikesh Arora
- Anjali Sud
- Ajaypal Singh Banga
- Arvind Krishna
- Jayshree Ullal
- Rangarajan Raghuram
Who are the top CEOs in India?
Some of the Top CEOs in India are:
- Mukesh Ambani
- Arvind Krishna
- Gopal Vittal
- S N Subrahmanyam
- C P Gurnani
- Pawan Munjal
- Kalanithi Maran
- Indra Nooyi
- Salil Parikh
- Savitri Jindal
