‘Indian-origin CEOs take pride in identity’: Novartis’s Vas Narasimhan

Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan is part of an elite group – that of Indian-origin CEOs who hold leadership positions in some of the world’s top companies. “All of us haven’t gotten together to discuss it, but I know Indian-origin CEOs do take a lot of pride in their identity,” Narasimhan said during an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18.

Speaking about the rise of Indian-origin leaders, the global CEO of pharmaceutical giant Novartis said that they owed their success to their forefathers who worked hard to give them better opportunities.

Vasant "Vas" Narasimhan was born in Pittsburg to Indian parents. His parents belonged to Tamil Nadu. Narasimhan is one of many of the world’s many CEOs who can trace their roots to India. The list includes, but is not limited to, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Chanel global CEO Leena Nair, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and IBM CEO Arvind Krishna. Neal Mohan recently joined the group after taking over as CEO of YouTube.
In his interview with CNBC-TV18, Novartis global CEO Vas Narasimhan said it was "amazing" to see so many people of Indian origin in top leadership positions.

“I think a lot of it comes down to our forefathers, our grandmothers and grandfathers, who worked so hard to give us the opportunity – to give somebody like me the opportunity – to be educated in the US, to have all of the opportunities we have.

“We stand on the shoulders of giants,” said Narasimhan. “And there must have been many giants walking around India, you know, 50 or 100 years ago.”