Durga Puja is one of the grandest and most-awaited Indian festivals. It is a most spectacular celebration in the Indian state of Bengal. However, the festival is celebrated with equal enthusiasm wherever Bengalis are in the world. About two dozen of Durga Puja events in New Jersey and New York transform the northeast cost into a mini Bengal with cultural exuberance this time of the year. Bengali associations across New York and New Jersey started preparations months ago, so the festivity does not fall short of joy and happiness in their adopted home. They can live away from home, but can’t survive without the blessings of Maa Durga, the bliss of bhoger kichudi, the beats of dhak, and the ecstasy of dunuchi naach.

Travel Beats, a leading overseas Indian community portal by Indian Eagle, recommends some of the best places for Durga puja 2025 in New York and New Jersey.  “Elo re Dugga elo re…” 

Times Square Durga Puja, New York

After the historic debut of Durga Puja celebration at Times Square in 2024, the divine celebration is back this year. Usually, Times Square is a popular venue for Diwali, Yoga, and Indian Independence Day celebrations. Unlike other Durga puja events in USA, the 2-day Times Square Durga Puja is a free event for all, regardless of their nationality and religion. It is being organized by Bengali Club of USA .

• Date: October 1 and 2
• Contact: contact@timessquaredurgapuja.org, +1315-586-3372

Sanskriti Durga Puja 2025: Buffalo, New York

Sanskriti, a Bengali cultural association in Buffalo, is one of the best and oldest Durga Puja celebrations in New York. Founded in 1974-75, the Sanskriti Durga Puja is a cultural platform for the present generation of Bengali Diaspora in the northeast US to have a tryst with their heritage, literature, and traditions thousands of miles away from India. Sanskriti also celebrates other festivals with equal enthusiasm. They also organize Kojagori Lokkhi puja at the same venue.

Sanskriti will organize a Bijoya Dinner on the last day of the puja. On October 4, the Sanskriti Buffalo Durga Puja committee will host a Bijoya sommelani and a live performance by Sa Re Ga Ma Pa fame Sneha Bhattacharya at Canterbury Woods Performing Arts Center, Williamsville, Renaissance Drive. Earlier, their event was graced by such renowned performing artists as Purna Das Boul and Bhupen Hazarika.

• Dates: September 26, 27, 28
• Venue: Hindu Cultural Society, Big Temple Auditorium, 1595 N French Road, Getzville, NY 14068
• Contact: president@buffalosanskriti.org, +1 623-499-2329
• Website: Buffalosanskriti.org

New York Kali Mandir Durga Puja, Baldwin

New York Kali Mandir located close to JFK International Airport is the destination if you wish to celebrate Durga Puja in the most traditional manner. Inspired by the Dakshineswar Kali Temple of Kolkata, NYKM is home to Goddess Kali worshiped by Bengalis and other Indian communities. Founded in 2005, the temple doubles up as a community organization and helps preserve the age-old Bengali cultural traditions in New Yok Metropolitan Area. The temple has a well-stocked library for all age groups. Those interested in volunteering can serve the temple this Durga Puja.    

• Dates: September 27 to 30
• Venue: 614 Seaman Ave, Baldwin, NY, 11510
• Contact: nykmdevotee@gmail.com, +1 516-771-5254
• Website: Nykalimandir.org

Also read: Sanyal Brothers Offer Best Kolkata Street Food with Chai in New York

Durga Puja at Ramakrishna Vivekananda Center of New York

Durga Puja at the Ramakrishna Vivekananda Center of New York for the followers of the Ramakrishna order is among the best Durga puja celebrations in the Greater New York Area. Founded in 1933, the center organizes the puja to worship the Divine Mother and seek Her blessings for humankind. The chanting of sacred hymns and the singing of devotional songs in chorus are the mainstay of their celebration without pomp and in strict adherence to the principles laid out by Belur Math, the headquarters of Ramakrishna Missions worldwide.     

• Dates: To be announced
• Venue: 17 E 94th St, New York, NY 10128
• Contact: (212) 534-9445
• E-mail:  rvcenternewyork@gmail.com
• Website: Ramakrishna.org

East Coast Cultural Association Durga Puja, NY

The East Coast Cultural Association, one of the youngest communities in New York, has planned a spectacular Durga puja celebration this year to mark its third anniversary. Founded in 2022, the non-profit Bong organization strives to create the ambience of parar pujo in Kolkata through a grand display of traditional Bengali culture, ranging from mouthwatering dishes to live music programs, at their puja venue. The schedule of ECCA Durga Puja 2025 includes three musical evenings by Sneha Bhattacharya on SEP 26, Madhubanti Bagchi on SEP 27, and Albert Kabo Lepcha on SEP 28.

• Dates: September 26, 27, 28
• Venue: Gujarati Samaj Hall, 17315 Horace Harding Expy, Fresh Meadows, NY 11365
• Contact: eastcoastcultural@gmail.com
• Website: Eccany.com

Utsov Durga Puja 2025 in New Jersey

Utsov Inc. is known for one of the biggest Durga Puja events in New Jersey. Their celebration, both traditional and contemporary, has a number of ‘wow’ factors – delectable Bengali food, Sindoor Khela, Dhunuchi dance, cultural programs, and art competition for kids. East Brunswick near Edison is the location of their puja venue that will turn into a Disneyland of festivities and revelry for two days as Utsov Inc. has invited the powerhouse voice of Bengal, Rupankar Bagchi, and the sensational Indian singing duo, Nandy Sisters (Ankita and Antara).

Legendary Lakkhichhara and Raju Das Baul – who are the titans of Bengali rock – will churn out popular Baul music and take the exuberance of NJ Utsov Durga Puja celebration to the fever pitch on OCT 5. Prior registration is compulsory to enter the venue and attend the live events.

• Dates: October 4 and 5
• Contact: 201 787 6861 or 516 519 1434, utsov@utsov.org
• Venue: Jo Ann Magistro Performing Arts Center, 200 Rues Lane, East Brunswick, NJ 
• Website: Utsov.org

Also read: Indian Food is a Pure Bliss at This Temple Kitchen in New York

Garden State Puja Committee’s 44th Durga Puja in New Jersey

One of the oldest and biggest Durga Puja events in New Jersey is organized by the Bengalis of Garden State Puja Committee, Jersey City. GSPC Durga Utsov 2025 will celebrate its 44th anniversary over foot-tapping numbers of the most popular bands, Euphoria on 4 OCT and Fossils on 5 OCT. Bongobhoj – a traditional Bengali food fare – is the mainstay of their celebration.

The pandal modelled on thakur dalan, a distinct feature of mansions dating back to the feudal era of Bengal, has already been shipped from Kolkata to New Jersey. This is the biggest attraction of GSPC Durga Puja in Jersey City.

• Dates: October 3 to 5
• Venue: William L. Dickinson High School, 2 Palisade Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07306
• Contact: +1 201-993-4577 | info@gardenstatepuja.org
• Website: gspcnj.com

New Jersey Kallol Durga Puja 2025  

Among the Durga Puja celebrations in New Jersey, Kallol Durga Puja hits the headlines every year. Of the oldest Bengali organizations in the northeast coast, Kallol will transform Somerset into a mini City of Joy with cultural and musical extravaganza for 4 days, SEP 25 to 28.

Raj Burman will make the audience groove to his hit numbers on September 25, while Silajit Majumder will set the stage on fire with his soulful songs on September 26. Anirban & Band Hooliganism will take over the stage on September 27 and their foot-tapping performance will make the evening unforgettable. Kallol New Jersey Durga Puja in 2025 will be a rollercoaster ride of fun and joy over music by Sambuddha Chatterjee and Amit Kumar on September 28.

• Dates: September 25 to 28
• Venue: Ukranian Cultural Center, 135 Davidson Avenue, Somerset, New Jersey 08873
• Contact: 732.290.5218
• Website: Kallol.com

Also read: Why Bengal worships living goddesses during Durga puja

Agrani Durga Puja, Plainfield NJ

Agrani Durga Puja in Plainfield near Edison is one of the 10 best Indian events in New Jersey in October 2025. Like WomenNow TV’s Durga Puja in California, the women members of Agrani NJ organize the puja, from fabulous feasting to cultural extravaganza. Equally popular with the Bong and non-Bengalis in Central New Jersey, Agrani Durga Puja promises to be an exhilarating experience for music connoisseurs. Antara Mitra, a renowned Bollywood playback singer, will set the stage on fire on October 4. 

• Dates: October 4 and 5
• Venue: 730 Central St Plainfield, NJ 07062 United States
• Contact: Info@agranicnj.org

Alor Benu Durga Puja in Edison, NJ 

The ‘Ekchala’ style Durga idol is the main attraction of this humble celebration by a few Bengali families in Edison, NJ. This is more a gharoa (homely) puja than a community puja. The festive evenings from September 26-28 will see various cultural indulgences by the organizers and their families. The puja schedule is chock-a-block with traditional rituals from pushpanjali to the Goddess in the morning to dhunuchi naach in the evening to a family dinner at night.

• Dates: September 26, 27 and 28
• Venue: 2 Farmhaven Avenue, Edison, NJ 08820
• Contact: aamantran@aalorbenu.net, (908) 294-1954

New Jersey Ananda Mandir Durga Puja 2025

Durga Puja at Ananda Mandir in New Jersey is a most traditional one. Hundreds of New Jersey Indians throng the shrine to immerse themselves in festive revelries for five days. New Jersey Ananda Mandir is one of the few Hindu temples in USA that follows the Bengali calendar precisely for celebrating Durga Puja and other festivals. The temple that also doubles up as an Indian cultural center was commissioned in 1995 and completed in 2003. You may need to pre-register online. On successful registration, you would receive a confirmation email, which you can show to the volunteers at the temple complex.

• Dates: September 27 to October 2
• Venue: 269 Cedar Grove Lane, Somerset, NJ 08873-5212
• Contact: (732) 873-9821 or info@anandamandir.org
• Website: Anandamandir.org

Garden State Cultural Association: Plainfield, NJ

Among the best places for Durga Puja 2025 in New Jersey, Garden State Cultural Association (GSCA) is gearing up for their 34th year of the celebration. GSCA, a nonprofit Indian American organization of Bengalis in Plainfield, leaves no stone unturned to make Durga Puja a grand get-together of not only Bengalis but also other Indian communities over delicious food, shopping, and cultural entertainment. The interesting lineup of events include talent shows and drawing competitions.

Registration is compulsory to attend the celebration, especially cultural programs. You can register on their website given below. Popular Indian singers Jayati Chakraborty, Avishek Sinha, and Shreyasi Bhattacharjee are among the eminent guests this year.  

• Dates: October 4 and 5
• Venue: Melvin H. Kreps Middle School, 5 Kent Lane East Windsor, NJ-08520
• Contact: (908) 367-3322 or contact@gsca.us
• Website: web.gsca.us

Also Read: Payal Saha’s Kati Roll from Kolkata Rocks in New York

Bengali Cultural Society Durga Puja: South Jersey

In New Jersey, Bengali Cultural Society’s Durga Puja celebration is a lot more than food, fun and frolic. Rather, it mirrors the rich cultural heritage of Bengal on the American soil. Founded in 1978, Bengali Cultural Society is not just one of the oldest Bengali diaspora associations but a philanthropic organization too. They publish their own magazine Sanskriti every year and run a Bengali language school for their young ones and those interested in learning the language. Each day of the puja will culminate in an authentic Bengali community dinner.

You can check out their extensive menu for festive bhuribhoj on their Facebook page. Grammy Award winner Mahalaxmi Iyer, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa winner Sourav Das, Bengali folk singer Poushali Banerjee, and music composer and singer Ranajoy Bhattacharjee are among the special guests for this year’s Durga Puja event at BCSSJ.

• Dates: October 3, 4, 5
• Venue: Indian Cultural Center, 820 NJ-73, Marlton, NJ 08053
• Contact: info@bcssj.org
• Website: Bcssj.org

New Jersey Bharat Sevashram Sangha Durga Puja

The New Jersey chapter of Bharat Sevashram Sangha celebrates Durga Puja to worship the Supreme Power of the universe. The chanting of slokas and hymns reverberates in the air of the ashram temple on the five days of Durga Puja. Devotees can soak in numinous vibes that the ambience is rife with this time of the year. Bharat Sevashram Sangha is one of the few places where all the rituals of Durga Puja are strictly followed in compliance with the scriptures. Devotees are requested to pre-register for the puja.

• Dates: September 20 and 21; September 28 to October 2
• Location: 3490 Route-27 Kendral Park, New Jersey 08824
• Contact: 732 422 8880/ 347 735 2984 | devotees@sevashramsangha.org
• Website: sevashramsangha.org

Trinayani Durga Puja in Plainsboro, New Jersey

A non-profit organization established in 2022 with the aim to promote India’s rich art and culture, Trinayani is eyeing a theme-based Durga Puja celebration in a grander fashion this year. In its inaugural year (2022), Trinayani was the first and only one to have worshipped the protima (idol) made by Prabasi Bengalis among the community members. The Bong being great foodies complement their festivities with sumptuous food.

The musical acts to be performed by Rathijeet and Anweshaa, on October 4 and 5 respectively, will make you not only groove to live music but also feel nostalgic. You may contact Trinayani for registrations.

• Dates: October 4 and 5
• Venue:5 Adams Ct Plainsboro NJ 08536
• Contact: contact@trinayaninj.org  
• Website: www.trinayaninj.org

PBA Agomoni and Durga Puja 2025

Princeton Bengali Association in New Jersey will invoke Maa Durga on Mahalaya (September 21) through their ‘Agomoni’ program and celebrate Durga Puja on October 20 in West Windsor. Dhunuchi naach, Sindoor khela and other traditional rituals are the hallmarks of their humble celebration. Rishi Panda, a popular YouTuber and singer, has been invited for a musical evening at PBA Durga Puja in New Jersey. The event is free for kids (5 years and below).

• Date: September 21
• Venue: Dutch Neck Elementary School, 392 Village Rd E, West Windsor Township, NJ 08550, USA
• Contact: pbanj.org

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At the AI Summit in Washington DC on 23 July 2025, President Trump took a dig at American tech giants for hiring workers from India. However, American conglomerates continue to welcome Indian-origin leaders to the C-suite. In July itself, two Indian Americans entered the elite club of Indian-origin CEOs in the US: Ketul J. Patel as CEO of Wellstar Health System and Gagan Singh as CEO of Blackpoint Cyber. Now Shailesh Jejurikar is ascending the hotseat of CEO at Procter & Gamble whose several brands are household names in America, India, and other countries.

Who is Shailesh Jejurikar, next CEO of Procter & Gamble?  

The first Indian CEO of Procter & Gamble in its 187-year-history, Shailesh Jejurikar was born in Mumbai ands schooled in Hyderabad. Like Deloitte’s former CEO Punit Renjen, he has had an illustrious career for 36 years at P&G, from an assistant brand manager in India in 1989 to CEO in 2026. He will take over as CEO and President of Proctor & Gamble in January 2026. Currently, he is the Chief Operating Officer for P&G’s Enterprise Markets.

Shailesh Jejurikar’s journey from humble beginnings, which he once descried as “pretty much in the middle of nowhere” outside Mumbai to P&G’s global headquarters in Cincinnati is a remarkable story of American Dream.

Shailesh Jejurikar to head P&G as CEO amid challenging times

Business leaders across the world, including Anand Mahindra from India, have hailed his appointment as CEO as one of the best decisions for and by P&G to navigate the challenging times. P&G, the world’s largest consumer goods maker (by market capitalization) with a revenue of US$ 84bn in 2024, has been seeing a linear sales graph amid economic headwinds spurred by the Middle East conflict, the US-China trade tensions, rising production overheads, volatile pricing in key markets, and likes. P&G’s April-June quarterly report forecast a dip in consumer sentiment, annual sales and revenues.

Given the current juncture, steering Procter & Gamble’s next phase of growth would be a litmus test to Shailesh Jejurikar’s leadership and business acumen. However, leading business analysts are sanguine that his profound understanding of both developed economies and emerging markets would be a driver for P&G’s sales growth. “P&G people, our brands, and our capabilities in innovation and operational excellence fuel my confidence for a future of sustained growth and value creation,” said P&G’s new CEO Jejurikar while sharing the news of his promotion.

P&G CEO Shailesh G. Jejurikar’s net worth

Shailesh Jejurikar’s net worth is estimated at $40-50 million (combining his salary, P&G shares, stock investments, and other notable assets). Unlike Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, and few other Indian American CEOs, he is not yet among the billionaire immigrants in the US. His salary as CEO of Procter & Gamble may boost his net worth and catapult him to Forbes’ 2026 list of richest Indian-origin CEOs.

Procter & Gamble CEO Shailesh Jejurikar’s Education

His academic profile ranges from the prestigious Hyderabad Public School where Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was his classmate, to IIM Lucknow. In eighth grade, he joined Hyderabad Public School, a cradle of CEOs and business leaders including Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen and MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga, after his family shifted to Hyderabad from Mumbai. Other than Nadella, Soumya Chakravorty, MD of Deloitte’s SAP Offering, and V. Navender, Tesla’s former Chief Information Officer were among his batchmates at the Hyderabad school.

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While technology giants are burning cash to establish their supremacy over artificial intelligence, 28-year-old Varun Mohan is capitalizing on it. He chose to be with Google for his next milestone in the hard-edged competition among Alphabet Inc., Facebook Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI. Global netizens are wondering why Alphabet Inc’s CEO Sundar Pichai and OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman betted billions of dollars on Indian American Varun Mohan, who turned down OpenAI’s whopping $3bn offer for less – a $2.4 billion deal from Google.

Varun Mohan’s deal with Google catapulted him and his partner Douglas Chen on the threshold of the elite club of Indian American billionaires. Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, Raj Sardana, and Nikesh Arora are the new members of this club, according to Forbes’ 2025 list of richest immigrants.

Who is Indian American Varun Mohan?

Varun Mohan is CEO and co-founder of Windsurf, an AI coding startup. Born to Indian immigrant parents in Sunnyvale, California, he was raised in a household shaped by Indian values and driven by American Dream. From a young age, Varun was drawn to technology and problem-solving. At The Harker School in San Jose, he stood out for his exceptional talent in math and computing, which earned him the moniker – a math prodigy. As an Olympiad achiever in math and computing, he developed a deeply analytical bent of mind that laid the foundation for his success as a tech entrepreneur in America.

Varun Mohan’s educational qualifications include both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from MIT University in Massachusetts. He earned a dual degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, a tough combination that few meritorious students choose to pursue. At MIT, Mohan specialized in operating systems, distributed computing, machine learning, performance engineering, and algorithms.

Varun Mohan’s Career Journey from an Intern to CEO

Before launching the coding startup Windsurf, Varun Mohan built a strong professional foundation by working with some of the most respected tech companies in the world. During his time at MIT, he interned at Quora, LinkedIn, Samsung, Cloudian, and Databricks, gaining hands-on experience in machine learning systems, cloud storage, and data infrastructure. After graduation, he joined the self-driving car startup Nuro, where he rose to the rank of Lead Software Engineer.

In 2021, Varun co-founded Windsurf with Douglas Chen, his batchmate at MIT. As the CEO of Windsurf, he introduced Cascade, an AI-native development environment where engineers could write, test, and refactor code simply by speaking to their systems. Within months, over a million developers adopted it. The company raised around $240 million in funding and reached a valuation of $1.25 billion, making it one of the fastest-growing AI startups in the US Silicon Valley. A few months ago, Forbes named Windsurf as one of the top 50 AI companies in the world.

Why Varun Mohan Rejected OpenAI’s $3bn Offer for Google

It is said that the AI technology that Varun Mohan and his team at Windsurf built triggered Google DeepMind vs OpenAI. Varun was close to signing OpenAI’s $3-billion offer for Windsurf, but things fell apart when Microsoft, OpenAI’s biggest investor, raised concerns over potential conflicts with its own product, GitHub Copilot. The disagreement stopped the deal halfway. Instead, he chose Google where he won’t lose his ownership as CEO of Windsurf. Precisely, Windsurf continues to run as an independent company and sell its technology to other clients.

Is 17-year-old Pranjali Awasthi the next Varun Mohan? She is the founder and CEO of Delv.AI, a disruptive startup for the online search landscape dominated by Google.

The $2.4 billion deal with Google DeepMind is not a full acquisition of Windsurf by Alphabet. Rather, it is a licensing and talent deal that gives Google non-exclusive rights to key Windsurf technologies without taking ownership of the company. Under the deal, he, along with his business partner and selected talents from the R&D team have joined Google DeepMind, Alphabet Inc.’s dedicated AI research division, to advance agentic coding projects and integrate their tools into Gemini.

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The global Indian community has been googling who are Indian-origin billionaires among the richest immigrants in America since Forbes’ 2025 list was published. For the first time, 12 Indian Americans made it to the Forbes list of billionaires, with Jay Chaudhry having retained the distinction – the wealthiest Indian-origin billionaire in USA – since 2021. His net worth rose to $17.9bn from $12bn in 2021. America’s highest paid CEO Nikesh Arora, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Atlanta-based Raj Sardana, a self-made billionaire, are the newcomers in the elite club of America’s billionaire immigrants.

Jay Chaudhry, Net Worth $17.9 Billion

With a net worth of $17.9 billion, Jay Chaudhry, CEO of Zscaler, is the richest Indian American billionaire and one of the 10 wealthiest immigrants in the USA. His journey from a small Himalayan village to Wall Street is an inspiring story of American Dream. Born in a remote village without running water in Himachal Pradesh, Jay Chaudhry is a leading cyber security business tycoon in San Francisco Bay Area. He co-founded Zscaler, a virtual security check-post for companies exposed to cyber threats, in San Jose after a short stint in sales and marketing positions at MNCs like IBM. He is an alumnus of Harvard University and the University of Cincinnati. Unlike other billionaires, he says “My success so far has mainly been because I have very little attachment for money. I definitely do not feel like a billionaire even with a multibillion-dollar fortune.”

Vinod Khosla, Net Worth $9.2 Billion

Vinod Khosla’s net worth has swelled to $9.2 billion from USD 2.3 billion in 2020. Sun Microsystems’ ex-cofounder Vinod Khosla is now the second richest of all Indian American billionaires, according to Forbes 2025. An alumnus of Mount St Mary’s School in New Delhi, he studied at IIT Delhi, Carnegie Mellon University, and Stanford Graduate School of Business. A newspaper article on the founding of Intel piqued his interest in technology when he was a teenager. He established Khosla Ventures, a venture capital firm in Menlo Park, California and co-founded the Indus Entrepreneurs (NiE), a non-profit network of entrepreneurs.

Rakesh Gangwal, Net Worth $6.6 Billion

Miami-based Rakesh Gangwal, with a net worth of $6.6 billion, is on Forbes 2025 list of richest immigrants in America. A former co-founder of IndiGo, India’s largest low-cost airline, Rakesh Gangwal topped the list of 10 Indian-origin American billionaires in 2018. With a drastic dip in his fortunes due to the pandemic’s impact on aviation, Kolkata–born Rakesh Gangwal’s net worth dropped to $2.3 billion in 2020. An alumnus of IIM Lucknow in mechanical engineering, he studied MBA at Wharton School of Pennsylvania University and fulfilled his American Dream when he became the Chairman of US Airways Group after a stint in strategic planning for United Airlines in 1984. He founded InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. in 2000 and co-founded IndiGo in 2006. Today, IndiGo is the Indian airline in terms of domestic market share.

Romesh T. Wadhwani, Net Worth $5 Billion  

Symphony Technology Group’s founder and CEO Romesh T. Wadhwani from California with a net worth of $5bn continues to be among the 10 richest Indian American billionaires in 2025. His fortunes rose from $3.4 billion in 2020. Romesh Wadhwani is not just the richest Gujarati Indian entrepreneur in USA but a compassionate philanthropist too. His family shifted from Pakistan to India during the 1947 Partition. He is an alumnus of IIT Bombay in electrical engineering and holds a PhD degree from Carnegie Mellon University. Romesh T. Wadhwani is a self-made serial entrepreneur. He set up the Wadhwani Foundation with several initiatives including the National Entrepreneurship Network to drive socio-economic development in countries like India. In 2012, he opened a research center at the National Center for Biological Sciences in Bengaluru.

Rajiv Jain, Net Worth $4.7bn 

Forbes 2025 list of richest immigrants in America features Rajiv Jain with a net worth of $4.7 billion among 12 Indian American billionaires. Born and raised in north India, Rajiv Jain is the founder, chairman and chief investment officer of GQG Partners, a Fort Lauderdale-based global investment firm managing over $150 billion in assets. He moved to the US in the early 1990s to pursue MBA at the University of Miami. He started his career as an equity analyst and had a progressive career spanning two decades at Vontobel Asset Management where he became co-CEO in 2014. His firm is closely tied to India, with major stakes in ITC, HDFC, RIL, ICICI Bank, SBI, Sun Pharma, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Adani Group, and more.

Kavitark Ram Shriram, Net Worth $3bn 

With a net worth of $3 billion, Kavitark Ram Shriram stands sixth among the richest Indian Americans in 2025.  Among the early investors in Google, Kavitark was born in Chennai and graduated in mathematics at Chennai’s Loyola College. Based in California, he worked for Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, before making headlines for his investment worth $250,000 in Google. A board member of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, Kavitark Ram Shriram founded Sherpalo, a venture capital firm for technology startups in 2000. He joined the league of Indian American philanthropists by donating a whopping $61 million to Stanford University.

Raj Sardana, Net Worth $2bn

Born in Delhi to a family displaced by the 1947 Partition, Innova Solutions CEO Raj Sardana from Atlanta is a new face on Forbes’ 2025 list of billionaire immigrants in the US. His journey from just $100 in 1981 to his current net worth $2bn is phenomenal. After he moved to the US, he worked in a college cafeteria while studying MS Georgia Tech. Later, he opened a small print shop in Georgia, which became the foundation of Innova Solutions. Today, the company has over 50,000 employees in multiple countries. From humble beginnings to building a billion-dollar company, Raj Sardana’s pursuit of American Dream is the envy of many.

David Paul, Net Worth $1.5bn

With a net worth estimated at $1.5 billion, David C. Paul, Executive Chairman of Globus Medical, one of the top spine and orthopedic device makers in the US, is featured on the Forbes 2025 list of richest immigrants in the United States. Born in India and educated in Chennai, he moved to the US to pursue a master’s degree at Temple University in Philadelphia. He began his career in biomedical research and later started Globus Medical in 2003. Currently living in Audubon, Pennsylvania, David is a prolific innovator with dozens of patents in surgical technology. Globus Medical operates a major subsidiary in Chennai, showcasing Indian-American innovation in global healthcare.

Nikesh Arora, Net Worth $1.4bn

California-based Nikesh Arora, with a a net worth of $1.4 billion, is one of the richest Indian American CEOs on Forbes’ 2025 list of immigrant billionaires. Originally from north India, Nikesh was born into an army family and studied engineering at IIT-BHU before heading to the US for MBA at Northeastern University and master’s in finance from Boston College. He spent nearly a decade in top roles at Google, then went on to become the President of SoftBank. Since he joined Palo Alto Networks in 2018, he has transformed the company into a cybersecurity giant. In 2023, he hit the headlines as the highest paid Indian-origin CEO in the US, earning over $150 million in a single year.

Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella

Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella, both sporting net worth of around $1.1 billion, are among the Forbes ‘America’s Richest Immigrants 2025’ list. They’re also at the helm of two of the biggest tech giants in the world, Google and Microsoft. Sundar, based in Los Altos Hills, is a graduate of IIT Kharagpur, Stanford University, and Wharton, and has been serving as the CEO of Alphabet and Google since 2015. Satya, originally from Hyderabad and now living in Washington, holds degrees in computer science engineering and business from institutions in both India and the US. He became the CEO of Microsoft in 2014 and now also serves as the chairman of the board.

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“When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. This idiom seems to be a passe. Do in America as you do in India – is the new idiom set by the extravagant Indian wedding in New York that took over the Wall Street and broke the internet over the last few days of May. Over 400 wedding guests (baraatis) turned the financial district into an open-air dance floor with a DJ churning out foot-tapping music and making them groove to electrifying beats. There was everything common to a well-off Indian wedding, designer lehengas to boundless energy.

The viral videos of the Indian baraat on Wall Street sent global netizens into a tizzy googling whether the couple is billionaire, how they managed to shut down the busy Wall Street for their pre-wedding revelry. It was a lavish multi-day Gujarati wedding in Manhattan. Not an Ambani or Adani one though there are billionaires in the Gujarati community worldwide. The Indian couple whose jubilant wedding procession on Wall Street became a viral spectacle online is identified as high-profile professionals from Boston.

The groom who arrived in a white vintage car during his baraat on Wall Street was Varun Navani, the founder and CEO of Rolai, an enterprise AI solution for businesses. His family hails from Gujarat. He was featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in 2023. The bride was Amanda Soll, the director of legal compliance and risk management at MasterCard in Boston.

As they chose to solemnize their wedding in the Big Apple, some of their guests took business class flights to New York from Delhi, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad. CEO Varun Navani’s Indian wedding festivities covered multiple locations in New York City, from Conrad Hotel to The Glasshouse and Cipriani Wall Street. Both in America and India, the traditional baraat on Wall Street amused some, while some found it an unnecessary hurley burley in the public space.

The couple not only broke the internet but also their bank to take over New York’s Wall Street for a half day. As reported by several media, including New York Post, they officially filed 28 permits with the Mayor office to shut down the public areas in the financial district – which cost them between $25,000 and $66,000 per area. Some netizens despised the event as a mere display of wealth by super rich Indians, while others resonated with the celebration of traditional culture away from India.

Indians, especially Gujaratis and Marwaris can go the extra mile to make weddings an unforgettable bash full of fashion, food, culture, pride, and celebration. This reminds us of the first big fat Indian wedding hosted by Air India in the sky. What’s not available in the US these days! Nearly everything from homemade Indian snacks to Sabyasachi lehengas,” said Sourav Agarwal, Senior Editor of Travel Beats, a leading community portal for Indians in North America

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Four decades after Rakesh Sharma’s historic 1984 spaceflight, India is all set to make a grand comeback to human spaceflight with Captain Shubhanshu Shukla as a pilot of Axiom Space’s Ax-4 Mission scheduled on May 29, 2025. The Ax-4 Mission, as long as 14 to 21 days, aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is a collaboration between Axiom Space, NASA, and ISRO. Making the human spaceflight mission a lot more special for India’s future is not only Shubhanshu Shukla from the Indian Air Force, but also Indian American Tejpaul Bhatia, the newly appointed CEO of Axiom Space.

Axiom Space, headquartered in Houston, specializes in building and operating a commercial space station for human spaceflights as a leading space infrastructure developer. Most recently, Axiom Space passed the ‘CEO’ baton to Indian-origin Tejpaul Bhatia, who joined the company as Chief Revenue Officer in 2021. His appointment as CEO of Axiom Space with a valuation of US$2 billion came at a pivotal moment, as both ISRO and NASA teamed with Axiom to send four astronauts to the International Space Mission, including Shubhanshu Shukla.

In a statement, Bhatia expressed his long-standing passion for space exploration: “I’ve been inspired by space exploration since childhood, and leading Axiom Space at this critical inflection point in human spaceflight is the realization of a lifelong ambition.” With Bhatia at the helm, Axiom Space is aiming even higher. The company’s big goal is to build Axiom Station, the world’s first fully commercial human space station, and to attach its first module to the ISS by 2027.

Born to Indian immigrant parents in New York, Tejpaul Bhatia, as Axiom Space CEO, entered the elite C-suite of America where he shares space with other Indian American CEOs of major conglomerates, like Neal Mohan at YouTube, Sridhar Ramaswamy at Snowflake, and Ravi Kumar Singisetti at Cognizant, other than Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, Arvind Krishnan, and Santanu Narayen. Bhatia holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Columbia University.

Since he joined Axiom Inc. from Google in 2021, he has been the instrumental in securing revenue-generating deals and contracts worth over one billion dollars in total. With his 25 years of experience, business acumen, and technology leadership, he headed four revolutionary human spaceflight missions that put Axiom Space a notch higher above other private players in commercial space ventures, while transforming commercial spaceflight into a scalable business.

Before his ‘American Dream’ career skyrocketed as CEO of Axiom Space, he played a key role in leading strategic narrative for Google Cloud to startup founders, venture capital firms, and Fortune 100 corporations. He drove Google’s narrative on the future of work through direct CXO engagements and thought leadership across industries, according to his LinkedIn profile. In May 2018, he had joined Google as the startup ecosystem manager in New York City and worked with the startup community as an ambassador of Google Cloud.

Under Bhatia’s leadership, Axiom Space is strengthening international partnerships and bridging commercial innovation with national space agencies like ISRO and NASA. His role in the Ax-4 mission underscores Indian Diaspora’s growing contributions to global science and technology. Like many Indian-Americans, Bhatia embodies this rising influence, joining the ranks of Indian-origin leaders who are helping to shape America’s future.

Other than climbing the totem pole through his professional milestones in American corporate, Axiom Space CEO Tejpaul Bhatia actively contributes to non-profit organizations, like serving in voluntary leadership roles at the Make-A-Wish Foundation. His journey from an immigrant family to the CEO of a pioneering human spaceflight company is an inspiration, embodying the possibilities that arise from perseverance and vision.

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A national security risk or a bold bet on young recruits? A giant leap in the pursuit of American Dream or the beginning of the end of a bright career? The US media is rife with this debate on 21-year-old Indian American Akash Bobba, one of the newly hired engineers in the 19-23 age group for key roles in Elon Musk’s DOGE, a federal agency. He is possibly the youngest Indian-origin recruit in the Trump administration 2025.

Who is Akash Bobba in the Department of Government Efficiency that Tesla chief Elon Musk formed with President Trump’s executive order on 20 January? It is one of the trending social media topics and popular Google searches this week. He is a UC Berkley graduate with impressive credentials in coding, analytics, and artificial intelligence. One of the six recruits, the youngest being a 19-year-old, whom Elon Musk handpicked for his ambitious experimentation at DOGE. Akash interned at Silicon Valley giants, Palantir, and wrote AI models for Meta.

What made Elon Musk hire Akash Bobba is that the latter is a future-ready tech leader with a proven track record of solving business-critical problems under pressure and in a very short time. He also excelled at the prestigious Management Entrepreneurship Technology (MET) program at UC Berkeley and gained first-hand knowledge of financial modelling techniques at the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates. His mental agility, boundless enthusiasm, zest for learning, adaptability, and passion for everything tech make a collective drive for Elon Musk’s DOGE – a cost cutter for the US government’s federal spending.

Scheduled to end in July 2026, Elon Musk-led DOGE project’s objective is to “modernize federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” It aligns with Trump’s election campaign promises to curtail federal overheads, reduce the government’s fiscal deficit, and ensure proper utilization of the federal budget. Musk, the world’s richest billionaire, has proposed that his DOGE project and team may make the federal budget shrink by up to $2 trillion through rigorous measures, including but not limited to, trimming the workforce, shutting down redundant agencies, and consolidating federal agencies from 400 to fewer than 100.

What caused the uproar among Americans over Musk’s appointment of Akash Bobba and other young engineers to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)? It is their high-level security clearance to access classified data of federal budget and taxation, as well as the government IT system, despite having no prior experience in any public service domain. A group of Trump’s supporters call it a potential threat to the national security citing that unprecedented access to restricted government systems is usually granted to experienced federal officials with clean records, not fresh college graduates.

Critics of the Trump 2.0 administration describe the bold government system overhaul by Elon Musk-led DOGE team as a ‘high-stake gamble.’ However, Akash Bobba’s meteoric rise from coding internships to a key federal agency in the new US government is grabbing the headlines. Alongside the news of Akash Bobba in DOGE, an anecdote about his remarkable coding skills is making rounds on social media. Charis Zhang, one of his former classmates, shares the anecdote,

“During a project at Berkeley, I accidentally deleted our entire codebase. I panicked. Akash just stared the screen, shrugged, and rewrote everything from scratch in one night – better than before. We submitted early and got first in the class.”

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The Padma Awards 2025, India’s highest civilian honors, are about to recognize remarkable individuals who have made lasting impacts across diverse fields. Among this year’s honorees are four trailblazers from the USA — Nitin Nohria, Ajay Bhatt, Vinod Dham, and Sethuraman Panchanathan — whose extraordinary contributions to technology, education, and innovation are impacting a global audience. In this article, we dive into the stories of these distinguished leaders and their journey to receiving India’s prestigious Padma Awards.

Prof. Nitin Nohria, highest-paid Dean of HBS

Indian American Nitin Nohria, the first foreign-born dean of Harvard Business School, is among the four Indian-origin achievers on the list of Padma Awards 2025. Born into a business family in Rajasthan, he made it big in business studies. He is a distinguished alumnus of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai, with a PhD in management from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. He has 16 titles to his credit, like “Management: An Integrated Approach”, “The Handbook of Teaching Leadership”, and “Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices.” He co-authored some of the books with his colleagues and contemporaries.

A devout advocate of ethical business leadership, Padma Shri Nitin Nohria, who lives in Lexington near Boston, believes that business is a sacred activity and that business leaders should honor their ethical responsibilities just as good doctors conduct themselves by the Hippocratic oath. Sustainable economy and corporate accountability are among the subjects of his interest. A close friend of India’s richest business tycoon Mukesh Ambani, Nitin Nohria made the headlines in 2019 as the highest-paid dean of HBS, earning $904,506 in salary and benefits.

Ajay V Bhatt, the inventor of USB

Indian American Ajay V Bhatt, who is widely famed as the inventor of USB, will receive the Padma Shri honor, among the Padma awardees in 2025. The decision to do a master’s degree from the City College of New York was his call to pursue the great American Dream. His career at Intel spanning 26 years starting in 1990 made America his home away from home. Today, he is a celebrated technologist and thought leader in the US Silicon Valley with as many as 132 international patents.

Born in Vadodara, Gujarat, Padma Shri Ajay V Bhatt was featured in the 2010 issue of GQ India, as one of “The 50 Most Influential Global Indians.” The Light of India Award in 2012, the European Inventor Award in 2013, and the Asian Award are among the recognitions he has earned as a computer architect. Currently, he resides in Portland, Oregon.

Vinod Dham, the Father of Pentium Chip

The list of India’s Padma Awards 2025 includes Indian American Vinod Dham, the ‘Father of the Pentium Chip’ in the land of American Dream. With a BE degree in electrical engineering from India, Vinod Dham travelled to the USA for an MS degree, with only $8 in his pocket, and became one of the immigrant technology pioneers in the US Silicon Valley. His pivotal role in developing Pentium Micro-Processor and co-inventing Intel’s first Flash Memory technology catapulted him to dizzying ‘leadership’ heights at Intel.

Like Dr Amarjit Singh Marwah, a pioneer of American Dream for Indian families in the 1950s; Vinod Dham’s parents with four children had migrated to India from Rawalpindi after the 1947 Partition. He calls himself an accidental engineer as engineering happened to him by chance; physics was his first choice. He was hesitant to leave his mother and siblings alone in India for higher studies in USA after his father died. “You must go. America is your destiny. I will manage. Don’t worry about me,” Vinod recalled his mother encouraging him back then.

The Government of India named entrepreneur and venture capitalist Vinod Dham for Padma Bhushan 2025.

Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan

Indian American Sethuraman Panchanathan, the Director of the US National Science Foundation, is one of the 113 names for Padma Shri 2025. Born and brought up in Chennai, Dr Panchanathan is an undisputed leader in electrical and computer engineering. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, earned an MTech degree from IIT Madras, and then pursued PhD at the University of Ottawa in 1989. His pursuit of American Dream started at the University of Ottawa where he was promoted to associate professor and went through Arizona State University where he became the chief research officer in 2009.

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High-paying job placements are on the decline for MBA graduates of Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, and other top B-schools in America, according to a recent study by The Wall Street Journal. 23% of Harvard Business School’s 2024 MBA batch have remained unemployed for the past 3 months. It provides a contrast to the non-corporate sector with myriad opportunities for purpose-driven leadership that zeroes in on a noble vision and mission, rather than revenues and ROI.

Teach for America, one of the largest nonprofits in the US, has decided to trust Indian American Aneesh Sohoni with its top leadership baton from the departing CEO Elisa Villanueva Beard. Aneesh Sohoni, as the next CEO of Teach for America, is looking to come back home in April 2025. He euphorically looks upon this opportunity as his homecoming as he started his career and the journey to becoming a leading educationist at Teach for America in 2009.

Teach for America is a nationwide community of changemakers, including “leaders who teach, and teachers who lead” to illuminate your minds from low-income families in US public schools. As CEO of the organization with 35 years of impact on the uneven landscape of American education, Aneesh Sohoni will be heading a network of 70,000 alumni, teachers, tutors, and staff to prepare every child for a bright future, thereby driving the country’s socio-economic growth.

Aneesh whose Indian immigrant parents live in Minneapolis, was in the pool of promising college graduates that Teach for America had recruited in early 2009. Two years of teaching English as a corps member of TFA set his career path forever. “My life changed when I became a corps member. My students in my Twin Cities high school classroom were incredible and their potential was only matched in size by the challenges they faced in an unjust education system. I knew then I needed to make this my life’s work,” Aneesh shared in a LinkedIn post.

His passion for transformative education catapulted him to Tennessee where he worked as the Chief of Staff to Assistant Commissioner for Teachers and Leaders for nearly 3 years. The role of a project director at a New York-based nonprofit that strives to improve America’s education system in high-needs schools was his next venture for two years. His dedication to uplifting communities through education led to him being roped in as Teach for America’s Executive Director for Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana.

After shouldering the responsibilities of a zonal Executive Director for TFA, from 2016 through 2021, Aneesh Sohoni took a leap as CEO of One Million Degrees in Chicago. OMD empowers Greater Chicago’s deserving community college students from low-income families to excel in education, career, and life, so they could become important cogs and wheels in America’s growth engine. As CEO of One Million Degrees, Aneesh collaborated with several bodies of civic importance, like City Colleges of Chicago and Complete College of America, to further drive the impact of OMD in the past 3 years.

In his new role as Teach for America’s CEO, Aneesh Sohoni believes, “the current trajectory of education and learning in our country does not have to define our future,” and says, “I am proud that TFA prioritizes coalition-building with students and communities to achieve a shared vision for a future that is brighter than today.”

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Dr Amarjit Singh Marwah, an Indian American community leader, philanthropist, and scholar, is among the few Indian Americans whom the US honored by renaming major thoroughfares and intersections after them. The City of Los Angeles immortalized Dr. Marwah by naming the intersection of Vermont and Finley Avenues, Marwah Square, in 2019, just 2 years before Berkeley City got a street named after Indian American Kala Bagai in 2021.

A pioneer of American Dream for Indian students in the 1950s, a decade of possibilities and uncertainties for a free India; Dr Marwah took his last breath on January 7, 2025 at the age of 98. His journey from Pakistan to India to the United States after the 1947 Partition became a legacy of achievements, community activism, and unparalleled philanthropy. Air India having started international flights in June 1948, gave a runway to the dreams and aspirations of young Indians amidst the socio-economic volatility across the country. Dr. Marwah was one of them.

Not many Indian immigrants in USA know that it was Dr Amarjit Singh Marwah who founded Hollywood Sikh Gurdwara, the first Sikh temple in America, in 1969. Early in the 1950s, he came to the US on a Fulbright Scholarship after 4 years of practice as a dentist in Punjab. He graduated in dentistry from King Edward Medical College in Lahore before his family of physicians shifted to Punjab after the partition. He dared to dream big while the aftereffects of the partition continued to linger.

Turban-clad Amarjit in his 20s was an anomaly in the 1950s’ New York. Owing to his bushy beard and inherent benevolence, he earned the nickname “Young Santa” alongside having secured the Guggenheim Foundation’s Pediatric Dentistry Fellowship in New York. His pursuit of American Dream took an exciting turn with an MS degree in Pathology from the College of Dentistry at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

In 1954, he became not only a Doctor of Dental Surgery at Howard University in Washington DC but also the first Indian to obtain a license to practice dentistry in America. In the same year, he returned to his alma mater, the University of Illinois, as a faculty member, very much in line with what he had grown to be known for – a man of roots.

At the same time, Amarjit was not blind to the underlying social alienation faced by Asians, particularly Indians, in the 1950s USA. He recognized that increasing the community’s representation within the establishment could be of great help. In 1957, he managed the election campaigns for Dalip Singh Saund, the first Sikh and the first Indian American to be elected to the US Congress, thus opening doors for Indians in the American corridor of power.

In 1957, Dr. Marwah was granted U.S. citizenship, the culmination of his American Dream. This was the first brick to the first-ever Indian home that came up in Los Angeles after he relocated to Baldwin Hills, as a professor at the University of Southern California.

Dr. Marwah’s skilful hands in dentistry quickly earned him a prominent place in the field. His fame spread, attracting some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Among his clients were Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor, sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, spiritual teacher Harbhajan Yogi, and champion boxer Muhammed Ali. Singer-actor Barbra Streisand was one of his neighbors at 14-acre Malibu Ranch where he owned a property.

As Dr. Marwah’s influence expanded, he became well-acquainted with influential personalities from different walks of life. He hosted both President Zail Singh and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at his California home. The Marwah family property at Malibu Ranch overlooking the Pacific Ocean served as the wedding venue for the 38^th US President Gerald Ford’s son.

The experience of social depravity brought Dr. Amarjit Singh Marwah close to Tom Bradley, Los Angeles’ first Black mayor. Bradley appointed Dr. Marwah as a City Commissioner, a position he held for 18 years, setting a record for any Indian American. During his tenure, he chaired both the Cultural Heritage Commission and the Hollywood Art Commission, overseeing the protection of nearly 300 historical sites, including the Walk of Fame and Roosevelt Hotel. This was poetic how an immigrant conserved the nativity of a foreign land.

Dr Marwah built a community nest in California and offered warm hospitality to many Indian immigrants there. Additionally, he supported many humanitarian causes in USA and India. He helped establish a Los Angeles High School in Mumbai, with an annual contribution of $10K to support the school. He adopted two villages, Guru Ki Dhab and Guru Nanak Basti, in Punjab. He founded KK Marwah College for Girls (named after his wife, Kuljit Kaur Marwah) in Punjab. He co-founded the Bank of Punjab, a precursor to present-day HDFC Bank.

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