ORIGIN STORY. Leena Nair, CEO of Chanel Ltd | Photo Credit: Jason Alden

It was an unwelcome first day in my APAC role. One of my senior colleagues, in her first meeting with me, resigned as soon as we sat for our introductory catch-up. She said, “I have heard you Indians run organisations like a sweatshop. Sea diving is my hobby, and I want to ensure I protect that time.” That interaction shaped my way of working the next five years. As I juggled time zones, I had to constantly demonstrate my hard-working side to my bosses and, at the same time, empathise with my team’s need for a work-life balance. The startup hustle mode we were in didn’t really give the team much respite. The results didn’t show either. Should I say my Indian model of working hard didn’t pay off?

A decade later, when I began observing Indian-origin leaders taking over CEO roles in Fortune 500 companies, I wondered what the qualities were that made them rise or sustain their growth to the top.

Immigrants vs locals

It’s natural for us to celebrate the rise of Indian-origin CEOs in global Fortune 500 companies. We currently have 11 such leaders. It used to be 13 in 2024 and 16 in 2023. In the Forbes 2000 list, there are 28 Indian-origin CEOs. Whether that is significant for us to brag about depends on whether we consider the glass half-full or half-empty. At 2 per cent and 1.4 per cent people representation, I would rather not be part of the conversation that claims Indians are rising to the top. Compare that to the number of immigrants who are CEOs in Fortune 500 companies. More than 46 per cent of the Fortune 500 companies (231) in 2025 were founded by immigrants or their children (109 by immigrants, and 122 by children of immigrants). Among the 14 companies that debuted in the Fortune 500 list in 2025, 10 were founded by immigrants or their children. Should we credit their success to the American ecosystem, rather than Indian tough upbringing or education system? The large number of immigrants at the top of Fortune 500 companies makes that crystal clear.

Loyalty exaggerated?

Recently, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu commented on social media platform X that Indians have risen in global corporations due to organisational loyalty — meaning they had long tenures in these firms, giving them the edge. But as per executive search and leadership advisory firm Russel Reynolds, nearly 68 per cent of new CEO appointments in 2025 across major global indices were internal promotions. This implies that the notion that only Indians work long tenures and hence grow faster is highly misplaced. In fact, Indians had to stay longer with their employers before they become CEO, whereas non-immigrants have had shorter tenures or direct appointment opportunities.

According to Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2025, Indians have co-founded over 130 unicorns overseas — over 90 per cent in the US, and a handful in the UK and Germany. Among the largest are San Francisco-based Databricks (valued at $62 billion), design platform Figma ($12.5 billion) and AI-native search startup Perplexity AI ($9 billion).

Impact of PIOs

As per Migrationpolicy.org, Indians in the US participate in the labour force at higher rates than both native and the overall foreign-born populations. In 2023, 74 per cent of Indian immigrants aged 16 and above were in the civilian labour force, compared to 63 per cent of US-born and 67 per cent of all immigrants. Compared to the two other groups, those born in India were more likely to work in the management, business, science and arts occupations. Moreover, on average, Indians have much higher incomes than the total foreign- and native-born populations. In 2023, households headed by an Indian immigrant had a median annual income of $1,66,200, compared to $78,700 for all immigrant-led households and $77,600 for native-led households.

We have economic reasons to celebrate our NRIs in the US, more than just the 11 people of Indian origin who have become CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and the unicorn founders. Last year, 27 per cent of the $135 billion foreign remittances to India was from Indians working in the US.

The struggle

In the last 12 months, 58,000 technology professionals from India travelled to countries like the US, UAE, the UK, Canada and Germany, and about 40,000 came back. Those who return find it difficult to sync with employers on home turf, especially if they have been away longer. My nephew, who recently came back from New York after living there a decade, said, “Everybody here seems to be working one and a half times their actual job description.” That explains why some of us feel overworked whereas our bosses feel we are not productive enough! The number of extra gigs we make our reportees do without any direct link to their KPIs is mindboggling.

The paradox that Indians are more productive overseas and struggle to find their rhythm in India puts a lid on the debate over why immigrant Indians are so successful in countries like America. There is something about us when we pack our bags and go overseas. However, when we are in India, it seems like we are stuck with “do it by yesterday, but take my approval for tomorrow”.

(Kamal Karanth is Co-founder of Xpheno, a specialist staffing firm)

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Published on February 16, 2026