“You cannot become a CEO in the US if you are not an Indian” – US Ambassador
Eric Garcetti said the joke has now evolved to "You to be an Indian to be a CEO in the US."
US envoy to India, Eric Garcetti made a startling remark in an interview with ANI about Indian talent and their impact in corporate echelons of the United States.
Eric Garcetti recently celebrated Indian-origin CEOs heading major US firms such as Microsoft, Google, and Starbucks. He highlighted a shift from an old joke suggesting Indians couldn’t be US CEOs to now where it’s almost a requirement.
Garcetti remarked, “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”, he said.
He applauded the success of Indian immigrants, who went to study in the US and said “successes have happened, and now more than 1 in 10 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are Indian immigrants who studied in the US.”Â
#WATCH | Delhi: US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti says, "The successes have happened, more than 1 in 10 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies now are Indian immigrants who studied in the US. The old joke was you could not become a CEO in the US if you are Indian, now the joke is you… pic.twitter.com/gTdvXng9mi
— ANI (@ANI) April 26, 2024
Addressing concerns regarding the safety of Indian students studying in the US amid the recent incidents of the tragic death of many under various circumstances, the US ambassador underlined that his country takes care of the well-being of every student coming to the US and with the higher figures of students coming to the US for studying, he wants to reduce such incidents to zero.
“We care so deeply for the well-being of every student especially our Indian students that are coming to the US. We want to make sure that they have all the information whether it’s mental health care, whether it’s physical safety, and there’s wonderful resources on all of our college campuses that we want to make Indian students know about before they come to the US,” said Garcetti.
“With over 240,000 students of course there’s always going to be tragic incidents but we want to try to get that number as close to zero as we can,” he added.
Highlighting that the Indian students enrich the US culture, the envoy expressed his love and warmth towards the Indian students.
“We love Indian students in America. They improve our campuses, enrich our culture, and we want them to have the very best experience that they can have something that enriches their lives and changes the way that their dreams can come true in their own lives,” he said.
On April 25, the Ministry of External Affairs reacted to the ongoing protests and said that there should be a right balance between freedom of expression and a sense of responsibility, adding that the democratic country is judged by what we do at home and not what we say abroad.”
