For many years now, Indians residing in different parts across the globe have been making India proud through their excellence in various fields. The presence of Indians at every corner of the earth is felt through their noble achievements. Despite living miles apart from their home country, they make their country proud in every possible way. India has seen different talents and intellectuals who have contributed to the growth of the country, of which a considerable percentage is the NRIs. From the genuine talents in literature like Anita Desai, Salman Rushdie to the Nobel laureate in economics, Amartya Sen and countless NRIs have made India proud. Here, we will look at some of the NRIs from recent years who have made their home country proud.
Abhijit Banerjee
Abhijit Banerjee made it to the list of Indian origins to grab the most prestigious prize- the Nobel. The Indian American won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2019 and became the 10th Indian to receive the Prize in Economic Sciences. Banerjee jointly shared the prize with his French-American wife, Esther Duflo and another American economist Michael Kremer. The Nobel Prize was awarded for their “experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.”
The half Bengali and half Konkani economist was born in Mumbai in 1961. His father, Dipak Banerjee, was a professor of economics at Presidency College, Calcutta and his mother, Nirmala Banerjee, was also a professor of economics at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. Dipak Banerjee is a Ph.D. holder in Economics from the London School of Economics. Banerjee did his schooling in Calcutta and attended Presidency College for his Bachelors. For his Master’s, he joined Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, in 1983. Later on, he attended Harvard University to obtain his Ph.D.; his doctoral thesis for the same was “Essays in Information Economics”.
Currently, he is the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the co-founder of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL).
Shobana Jeyasingh
Shobana Jeyasingh, born in Chennai, completed her formal education in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Shobana is today an internationally recognized choreographer and also the founder of Shobana Jeyasingh Dance. She has been creating dance works for the past thirty years and is based in Britain.
Jeyasingh was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1995 and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for her services to dance. She states that her works are mostly rooted in her experiences as a British Asian and explore the conflicts between diverse personal and cultural origins. She is trained in Bharatanatyam. She travelled to the United Kingdom for her Master’s in Shakespearean Studies and ended up establishing herself as Britain’s most sought-after choreographer. She was awarded the prestigious Woman of the World Award in 2017.
Sundar Pichai
Pichai Sundararajan, who is better known as Sundar Pichai, has made Indians proud since 2015 when he was made CEO of the American multinational technology company and search engine behemoth Google and later in 2019 an announcement was made officially on Google’s blog that Larry Page is stepping down as the CEO of Alphabet, handing over the reins of the entire Alphabet group of companies to Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Born and raised in Madurai, Pichai completed his schooling in Chennai. His father, Regunatha Pichai, was an electrical engineer and his mother, Lakshmi, was a stenographer. Later he earned his degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in metallurgical engineering. For his Master’s, he attended Stanford University and earned an M.S in Material Science and Engineering. He also holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and was titled a Palmer Scholar and Siebel Scholar. In 2020, a speech delivered by him at the Singapore FinTech Festival gained massive attention as he emphasized on the inclusive digital economy.
Mindy Kaling
Vera Mindy Chokalingam, who is popularly known as Mindy Kailing, is the first Indian-American woman to have her primetime TV show in America, The Mindy Project. Mindy was born to Indian parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She gained her recognition for the first time, starring as Kelly Kapoor in the NBC sitcom The Office. Her father, a Tamil, is an architect by profession and her mother, a Bengali, is a gynecologist.
Kailing holds a Bachelor’s degree in Playwriting from Dartmouth College. She not only acted in The Office but also became a director, producer and writer. She has also appeared in several movies like Ocean’s 8 and Late Night. She has won several awards, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, Asian Excellence Award, and Critics’ Choice Television Award. She has also been named as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2012 by Time Magazine.
Satya Nadella
Satyanarayana Nadella has been the executive chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft since 2014. The Indian-born American was named Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year for 2019. The news magazine reported, “Key to his leadership style is a willingness to delegate, particularly to three powerful members of his management team: president Brad Smith, who runs policy and legal affairs; Amy Hood, Microsoft’s chief financial officer; and chief people officer Kathleen Hogan. Each cuts a wide swath in areas many CEOs call their own, a state of affairs that suits Nadella just fine.”
Nadella was born in the city of Hyderabad in India. His father was an Indian Administrative Service officer and his mother, a Sanskrit lecturer. He completed his schooling in Hyderabad Public School and received a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology. Later he gained an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Businesses. He played a crucial role in the changeover to the cloud infrastructure and service business which seized the market. Nadella has always been a critical factor in the growth of Microsoft.
Pranav Mistry
The Gujarat-born President and CEO of Samsung’s STAR (Samsung Technology and Advanced Research) Labs unveiled Neon at CES 2020, which he calls the world’s first human interface to machines. He introduced Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch in 2013 and is known for it and SixthSense. He was honoured as the ‘Young Global Leader 2013’ by the World Economic Forum.
With his unmatched entrepreneurship skills, Mistry made it to the top of South Korean tech giant- Samsung Electronics. He was born in the year 1981in Palanpur city of Gujarat. Mistry received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and did his engineering from the Nirma Institute of Technology, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He also holds a Master’s degree in Media Arts and Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Padmasree Warrior
Padmasree Warrior is one of the most influential global Indian women. Born and raised in Vijayawada of Andhra Pradesh, Warrior did her schooling in Children’s Montessori School in Vijayawada. She is known for her leadership roles in technology firms like Cisco and Motorola. She is also the founder of ‘Fable’- a reading platform that focuses and promotes mental wellness.
Forbes in 2014 listed Warrior as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world. She is also a member of the directors’ boards of Microsoft and Spotify. She is one of the most renowned alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Indra Nooyi
The former chairperson and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi, is ranked among the world’s 100 most powerful women. In 2017, she was ranked the second most powerful woman on the Forbes list of the 19 Most Powerful Women in Business. She is the former chairperson and CEO of the second-biggest food and beverage corporation in the world by net revenue.
Nooyi hails from Tamil Nadu and completed her schooling in the state. She completed her bachelor’s degree from Madras Christian College of the University of Madras and the Post Graduate Diploma Programme from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. Later she attended Yale School of Management. She was named the CEO of PepsiCo in 2006. She was also named on Wall Street Journal’s list of 50 women to watch in 2007 and 2008. Though Nooyi stepped down as CEO, she served as the chairman of the company until 2019. Presently, Nooyi is the co-chair of Connecticut-based nonprofit organization, AdvanceCT.
Aneesh Sheth
Aneesh Sheth is the first Indian-American trans woman actor in Hollywood. Aneesh’s first prominent recurring role has been in season 3 of Marvel’s Jessica Jones. She was born in India but moved to the United States at an early age. Her first major acting role was in the short-lived NBC sitcom Outsourced. She did her graduation from the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. She has been working with the Trevor Project to create awareness among people about the queer community. She is also a singer, director, producer, writer and educator.
Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan
The Indian-American scientist was confirmed as the head of the National Science Foundation by the US Senate. National Science Foundation is a top American body supporting fundamental research in non-medical fields of science and engineering. He previously served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Research and Innovation Officer at Arizona State University.
Panchanathan was born and brought up in Chennai. He graduated in Physics from the University of Madras and earned a B.E. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Later he received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Ottawa.
He is a transformational leader whose human-centered efforts have led to positive changes on a global scale. He is the second Indian-American ever to be nominated to this position, with the first being Dr. Subra Suresh. He also served as a member of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
