- Tuesday, March 11, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Well-known Indian industrialist Anand Mahindra was ecstatic over the fact that Indian-origin Laxman Narasimhan has been named as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of coffee giant Starbucks. In a post on Twitter, the chairman of Mahindra Group said that appointment of Indian-origin CEOs at the world’s most iconic companies has become an “unstoppable trend”.
The 55-year-old Narasimhan, who was born in Pune in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, has served as the CEO of Reckitt and chief commercial officer at PepsiCo. He replaced Howard Schultz at Starbucks and while he will join the company on October 1 but, he will only take the helm in April next year.
“What was initially a trickle of water has turned into a Tsunami. The appointment of Indian-origin CEOs at the world’s most iconic companies is now an unstoppable trend. International boardrooms consider them to be almost ‘safe’ leadership bets,” Mahindra’s tweet, which also posted a report on Narasimhan’s appointment in Mint, read.
What was initially a trickle of water has turned into a Tsunami. The appointment of Indian-origin CEOs at the world’s most iconic companies is now an unstoppable trend. International boardrooms consider them to be almost ‘safe’ leadership bets. ??????https://t.co/PxbrOMK7Aa
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) September 2, 2022
The tweet went viral, as did Mahindra’s most tweets, and reactions came thick and fast.
Here are some reactions:
As an Indian origin CEO/COO of a tech company I can see the big business move here. This is why we’re bringing #SolidBlockTech to India. Looking forward to work with you in the future Sir ???
— Mike | SOLIDBLOCK ? (@Megacrypto77) September 2, 2022
Very well said…#AGM ?"He is a strategic and transformational leader with deep experience in building powerful consumer brands,”@lakslnarasimhan Best wishes
on your new journey – to listen, and learn, from everyone as you craft the future of @Starbucks
together.— Manoj K Jha aka Manu ? (@manojgjha) September 2, 2022
one company, one position and one country at a time, Indians are leading the world.
— Vivek (@desertedstorm) September 2, 2022
However, there were also people who said that the appointment of the Indian-origin corporate leaders was bringing no benefit back to India.
Sir what is the point endorsing that they are Indian origin when they have all renounced their Indian citizenship..None of them are actually Indians and neither their kids would be
— Pragati Agarwal (@PragatiAgarwa89) September 2, 2022
It’s been the topic discussion in LinkedIn and had also triggered a controversy based on their nationalism as all these CEOs are forced to renounce their Indian citizenship in favour of an American citizenship as our government doesn’t validate Dual Citizenship!
— Jaya Krishna Balaji (JKB) (@jkbbumblebee) September 2, 2022
Yeah because there is no value of talent in Indian companies but US have.
— Vaibhav SD (@vaibhavdasalkar) September 2, 2022
Google, PepsiCo, Microsoft, MasterCard, Starbucks etc. have CEOs from India.
But what is good for India to have them. What is the benefit of having IITs and IIMs when we can't hold the alumni. I think these kinda institutions open to help US— Keshav Grover (@GroverKg) September 2, 2022
