India was almost in a state of shock with the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2018 not featuring even a single varsity from the country in the top 250. 

The leading desi Uni happened to be Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, positioned in the 250-300 range.

But despite this dearth in quality in our educational institutions (as per the world), India’s bright brains have been proving otherwise. Almost all top offices in the Silicon Valley are occupied by Indians and their number only seems to travel north. 

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google

The IIT Kharagpur alumni was the latest Indian to stake a claim for one of the top jobs in the world and what a organisation to to it in. Having joined Google in 2004, Pichai has led various innovation efforts in the course of his highly inspirational success story.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft

Born into a Telugu-speaking family in Hyderabad, the electrical engineer from Manipal Institute of Technology (then a part of the Mangalore University) succeeded Steve Ballmer to become the first Indian to reach this position. Despite working for two decades-plus at Microsoft, he still admitted it to be a dream come true.

Shantanu Narayen, CEO of Adobe

Another Hyderabad boy, Narayen has graduated as an electrical engineer from Osmania University before heading to UCB for his MBA. He had worked for nine years at Adobe before he was appointed the CEO in 2007. Narayen is one of the highest paid men in the world.

Indra Nooyi, chairperson and CEO of PepsiCo

Ranked among the most powerful women in the world by Forbes magazine, the Chennai-born attended the University of Madras before getting admitted to Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C). She had joined the company in 1994 and was appointed as the chief in 2006.

Other notable Indian innovators

Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia

Sanjay Kumar Jha, CEO of Globalfoundries

Dinesh Paliwal, chairman and CEO of Harman International

George Kurien, CEO of NetApp

Ajay Banga, president and CEO of MasterCard

Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS Group

Ivan Manuel Menezes, CEO of Diageo

Rakesh Kapoor, CEO of Reckitt Benckiser

Francisco D’Souza, CEO of Cognizant