Indian Origin CEOs Are Ruling The World. Is India Actually In Charge Of The World?
A few months ago I have came across this post on LinkedIn which was reposted by a well-educated person who has done PhD. Yes, reposted. I was reading comments on his post and found out that the original author has deleted the post. Why he did that? I don’t know the real reason but maybe in this blog, I will address some issues which may lead him to delete his post. But some fawns on LinkedIn just want engagement because LinkedIn now becomes a social media. People just seeking attention like other social media platforms. It’s a two-way problem. Before a few years back, LinkedIn was the best place to find jobs and it was really a professional platform but sadly now it’s become social media. Okay, enough criticizing LinkedIn. Let’s get back to the main topic.
Indians are very emotional. Whenever they see the word “India” and “Indian” they just got so fascinating they forget to see facts and reality of the other side. So many Indians are still resharing this above post. Even I found many articles online on this same topic on very reputed news platforms. Just google out the title of this blog and you will find out those articles. These CEOs should be proud of themselves. It’s good to see Indian brains are leading the tech world and I appreciate their achievements. As an Indian instead of rejoicing over this, we should ask ourselves “Why they are not working for any Indian company and why they left India?”
Let’s talk about facts. They are all CEOs. A chief executive officer (CEO) is the highest-ranking executive in a company. Unfortunately, they all are employees and paid by mostly US companies. I believe none of them is owned or started by the Indians. They are working for them but still the founder and board of directors are either American, Russian, British or Chinese. The board has the power to fire the CEO and approve a replacement. Remember, Steve Jobs was fired from his own company by the board? These CEOs can’t able to rule the company, how they are ruling this whole world? How can you say Indians are ruling the world? The fact is most of these individuals denounced their Indian citizenship and became the citizen of the respective countries (mostly American citizenship). These individuals aren’t helping for the growth of India’s economy. Actually, they are helping in the economical growth of the respective country. They aren’t paying taxes in India. They aren’t creating jobs in India. Yes, they do some donations in India and I appreciate that. Their minds aren’t helping India as much as we are making proud of them. Mr Subrata Dey who is a content manager at TCS has also shared his genuine thoughts on this:
While we celebrate these arguably all-time great achievers, many people also never forget to point out how pathetic the condition of business in India or how bad the situation of brain drain is. Many raise question that if Indians can lead global companies, why can’t Indian’s create global companies.
The basic problem with such an argument is that we are mixing two largely different skills. Leading an established business and growing it is vastly different from creating a global business from scratch. For example, Satya Nadella can lead Microsoft; however, could he have created Microsoft? We don’t know…
Here is the real problem, instead of looking at people who have created, we are looking at people who have managed… We can not be a good batsman by looking at a bowler only.
Now let’s talk about issues. We should have to see the other side too. There are many reasons why they all left India. As per me, There are two major issues. The first major issue is Indian Company/Employer and second is Government. There are some other minor issues as well and I will talk about it later but first I want to address these two major issues.
1. Indian Company/Employer
Except a few, many Indian employers never respect the talent they have. The world outside India cares and nurture such talent. The benefits of working in Indian companies are far less than working in foreign companies. The pay is definitely respectively higher than India and you will get paid in dollars which is stronger than a rupee. I am from IT background and still, in 2020 you can’t easily find a five-day working job in India. Five days working is normal outside India and the rest of the world is leading towards four days working. Microsoft Japan trialled four days working and New Zealand PM suggests employers consider 4 days working. Indian employers are not willing to provide the normal benefits. Indian companies hardly consider taking their companies at a global level and make it brand. One of my friend (Not Mr Subrata Dey mentioned earlier) who is working at TCS told me we want to leave TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) someday and I curiously asked him why? He told me he has no problem with TCS. The pay and benefits and everything is good but he told me whenever he had told someone he is working at TCS hardly people recognise TCS but those same people easily recognise Google and Microsoft. Imagine if Sundar Pichai became CEO of TCS it was maybe local news only but when he became CEO of Google it was global news and rest is history. Many people like me who are from IT background wants to work in foreign even when we love our country so much. Work-life balance is excellent outside India and dignity of employees is extremely high in the USA. You will get paid for overtime but in India, you have to do overtime to impress your boss. If you are completing your task in eight hours regularly than you are not doing enough but if you are doing time-pass during office hours and do overtime to complete the task (which can be complete within eight hours) then you are doing a great job. In India, employers praise the non-productive overtime but will demean your punctuality. You will find work ethics in trash cans in India. Professionalism in foreign companies is at another level.
2. Government
I blame each and every government who ruled from the independence to the current one. It’s not these super brains have started leaving India a few decades back only. So many have left during British Rule and after independence as well. Everybody was aware we were losing great assets of India but none have taken any solid initiative to stop them. The current government is also failed to do so. They flew out of the country due to lack of entrepreneurial initiatives. India has been placed at 63 among 190 countries in the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking. The country moving at a snail’s pace while the world running at 5G speed. An uncooperative administration to fulfil corruption. Even If you decide to not do corruption, you will be dragged to do legal corruption called “Electoral Bonds”. When an election comes big companies must have to do donation in the political party against their desire for the smoother future operation of the company even if you are paying taxes properly and following all the rules. The Draconian Tax Laws. What are the advantages of being an honest taxpayer in India? Nothing! During Covid-19 pandemic, India’s taxpayers didn’t get any direct money as a simulate package in a bank account but most US taxpayers and even their children also got money. India’s taxpayers didn’t even get some deduction in taxes. Couples having 1/2 child(s) is paying taxes and from that tax money, couples having 3/4 children are getting subsidies. Because of caste-based reservation the real talented people of India, the one who truly deserve to be here are not getting enough job opportunities, better career options making them migrate to foreign countries where they are offered handsome amount for their skills. We are letting other people use our talent rather than using it ourselves for the development of the country. Every greedy government never tried to eliminate caste-based reservation to fulfil their vote banks. There should be economic based reservation so the real talent can help to make India better.
3. Other minor issues
These few minor issues are advantages of working in foreign countries. Many countries abroad have healthier economies and a higher standard of living. Not only would you enjoy a higher salary, but your family would also be able to experience a better lifestyle. Working abroad is a great way to expand your personal and professional network. Easy and fastest access to the latest technologies. Any new ambitions products whether it’s hardware or software based, India isn’t the among the first few countries to receive it.
Now some of the patriots will say I am disrespecting, complaining and criticizing our country India. Keep your patriotism to yourself and it won’t stop me to tell the facts and truth. Those CEOs are also loved India but still, they flew out of India. Every country has its advantages and disadvantages but those countries have better advantages than India and because of that we losing great minds which makes difficult for the development of India. So please don’t be over-exaggerated through this kind of posts. Before blindly sharing these kind posts, look at the other side and the big picture. Hope this will help you get the answer to why the original author has deleted the post. Also, Mr Parijat Ghosh has a very meaningful message for those fawns on LinkedIn and social media influencers:
It’s a sad day when someone who’s in a position of influence at LinkedIn uses the platform to post the same WhatsApp forwards one receives on a daily basis. As many have rightly pointed out, this is nothing but an empty rhetoric that gets amplified in echo chambers.
I can see why people use these kind of posts on LinkedIn though. It’s an easy shortcut to garner likes and engagement with a post that does not require any critical thinking or attention. An easy shot of dopamine for the idle minds.
I would have hoped that the platform gets utilised better to disseminate knowledge and information that’s presented in the right context.
You may think I am just talking negativity here and not seeing the positivity. Criticism is the most vital part for better output. I am a designer and criticism has always helped me to design better. I welcome your criticism this blog which will definitely help to write better in future. Share your thoughts in the comment section and correct me if I had said something wrong. Appreciate this blog by giving claps if you feel the same as me and if you don’t like it well, the medium has no dislike button. Dislike button should mandatory.
Regards,
VM