Big fat Indian weddings take the world aback every year. After the grand Ambani wedding for INR 5000 Cr became a global spectacle in 2024 and Indian American CEO Varun Navani’s wedding procession rocked Wall Street this year, a pharma tycoon’s daughter and a tech entrepreneur (both from the US) tied the knot today amid sheer luxury and opulence. This billionaire wedding, a three-day extravaganza attended by Hollywood stars and Bollywood biggies has transported the world to the bygone princely era of India.

Vamsi Gadiraju Weds Netra Mantena in Udaipur 

Netra, the heiress of Indian American billionaire Rama Raju Mantena, and Vamsi Gadiraju, a millionaire tech entrepreneur from New York, are the couple who took business class flights from USA to India for their lavish saptapadi in Udaipur, a premium wedding destination with palatial venues and picturesque locations in Rajasthan. The groom, Vamsi Gadiraju, is a New York-based co-founder and CTO of Superorder, an AI-driven tech platform for restaurant operations. Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in 2024 featured Vamsi Gadiraju, a distinguished alumnus of Columbus University.

Who is billionaire Rama Raju Mantena? 

The Netra-Vamsi lavish wedding in Udaipur owes its unmatched grandeur to the bride’s father, Rama Raju Mantena, the chairman and CEO of Ingenus Pharmaceuticals headquartered in Orlando, Florida. A US-based pharma mogul with roots in Andhra Pradesh, Raju Mantena has been leading the multimillion-dollar business of manufacturing cancer medicines and other health solutions since 2010. Prior to that, he founded and sold P4 Healthcare. He had moved to the US for MS in pharmacy, with a computer science engineering degree in India.

In 2018, Raju Mantena became a household name across India and among NRIs for donating a 28-kg gold necklace to the Tirupati Balaji Temple. The giant necklace made of 1008 gold coins with Sree Venkateswara Swamy’s name on each is currently valued at over INR 30 crores. In 2023, he made headlines for his purchase of a lavish property with a private beach and 16 bedrooms in Florida where another Indian American billionaire, Dr Kiran Patel has a palatial residence spread over 17 acres.

What makes Netra-Vamsi wedding an extravagant affair

Celebrated like a Rajasthani royal event, the wedding of Telugu American Raju Mantena’s daughter is a star-studded affair with Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber, and Trump Jr., the eldest child of President Donald Trump, among the guests in attendance. The three-day event spanned over mehendi, sangeet, haldi, and saptapadi amid the folk music and dance of Rajputana at The Leela Palace, Taj Lake Palace, and Zenana Mahal in the historical City Palace. The 5-star properties came alive with a rare blend of majestic beauty, exotic floral décor, and motifs of Rajasthan’s folk culture.

Unlike a Telugu couple, Netra Mantena stole the show like a Rajput bride in a designer red lehenga with a floor-length veil, and Vamsi Gadiraju ditched dhoti for an embellished sherwani with the turban of a Rajasthani groom. The guests, including Donald Trump Jr. were dressed in Indian ethnic fashions for various ceremonies. Precisely, the Vamsi-Netra wedding theme is inspired by the royal beauty of Rajasthan.

Raju Mantena flew out Jenifer Lopez and Justin Bieber from USA to India to set the stage on fire at the cocktail party. Reportedly, it was Jenifer Lopez’s first visit to India. The sangeet ceremony was a dazzling spectacle of Bollywood stars who entertained the guests with their high-octane performances. Madhuri Dixit, Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh, Shahid Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Varun Dhawan, and Janhvi Kapoor were the star performers at the Netra-Vamsi wedding in Udaipur.

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Indeed, America is the incubator of ideas, the cradle of innovations, and the architect of billionaire-dollar careers. Evidently, recognition runs high for Kruti Patel Goyal, a new comer in the club of Indian American CEOs; Adarsh Kumar, who won the Global Student Prize from USA; Varun Mohan whom Google roped in for $2.4bn; Tejasvi Manoj whose AI app saves senior citizens from cyber scams. Now the American Dream of two Indian-origin college dropouts – Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha – hit the jackpot.

The college dropouts cum AI startup founders, Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha became the world’s youngest self-made billionaires only at 22, stealing the limelight from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who was the youngest billionaire at 23 in 2008. The Indian-American college friend duo, along with their business partner Brenden Foody, have reached this milestone after their startup – Mercor AI – is recently valued at USD 10 billion. What began as a simple AI-driven recruiting startup has now grown into one of the fastest-growing companies in the US Silicon Valley.

Who are Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha, the world’s youngest billionaires?

Born to Indian immigrants in California, Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha grew up imbibing core Indian values and listening to success stories of Silicon Valley ventures. Both attended Bellarmine College Preparatory, a Jesuit high school known for its academic excellence and award-winning debate team. That’s where they met and discovered their shared passion for technology and problem-solving.

Adarsh’s family traces its roots to Karnataka, while Surya’s parents migrated from New Delhi to the United States in the 1990s. Growing up as US citizens of Indian origin, they shared the discipline and determination of their immigrant families, while embracing the risk-taking mindset and problem-solving attitude of the West. This east-west cultural mix became the foundation of their entrepreneurial journey.

In 2023, they, along with their friend Brendan Foody, founded Mercor, aiming to connect software engineers from India and other emerging markets with tech companies in the US. As artificial intelligence gained global momentum, they quickly spotted a larger-than-life opportunity. The company pivoted from recruiting to providing “human-in-the-loop” AI training services, where real experts help improve AI models through data labeling, testing, and feedback. This shift defined Mercor’s meterio rise.

How Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha became billionaires at 22

Mercor AI’s stupendous valuation catapulted Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha to the league of Indian-origin billionaires, including the richest Indian American Jay Chaudhry. Powered by innovation and timing, Mercor now serves major AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic, employing more than 30,000 global contractors, including engineers, lawyers, and medical professionals who assist in training large AI systems. The trio in the C-suite not only propelled Mercor into the global spotlight but also created history as the world’s youngest billionaires.

According to Forbes, the net worth of Adarsh Hiremath, Surya Midha, and Brendan Foody is based on Mercor’s $10bn valuation, not on liquid cash. Each of them reportedly owns about 22 percent of the company, which equals approximately $2.2 billion each on paper. Their net worth will multiply with the increasing valuation of Mercor AI. After raising $32 million in 2024 (Series A) and $100 million in early 2025 (Series B), Mercor closed a $350 million Series C round, which elevated its valuation to $10 billion.

This story is part of our continued series that gives a shoutout to achievements of Young Indians in America. Travel Beats is a subsidiary of IndianEagle.com, the most trusted air-ticketing partner of Indians and Americans. Best Indian Eagle flight deals make travel between USA and India cheaper, irrespective of routes.

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Gone are the days when fairness creams used to define Indian women’s potential in the marriage market and the world outside home. While Indian society is progressively rising over its personality disorder caused by deep-rooted obsession with fairness, Indian-origin women have stepped over it to reach new highs in America where actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas was bullied for her brown complexion in her school days.

From UmaSofia Srivastava, the Miss Teen USA 2023 to Chef Aarthi Sampath who made it big in Food Network to Divya Suryadevara, CEO of financial services at UnitedHealth Group to Chef Priyanka Naik who was invited to attend the White House’s Diwali celebration in 2024; they continue to achieve milestones in diverse fields that either test their beauty or brains. Joining the growing cohort of Indian-origin trailblazers is the new CEO of Etsy Inc – Kruti Patel Goyal.

Etsy, a global online marketplace for handmade goods, is offering the top position in its C-suite to Indian American Kruti Patel Goyal for the next chapter of growth and innovation. Come January 2026, she will not only take up the baton from the outgoing CEO but also enter the elite club of Indian-American CEOs. Just a month ago, another India-born business leader, Srini Gopalan occupied the corner office at T-Mobile as CEO.

Who is Kruti Patel Goyal, the next CEO of Etsy Inc?

Armed with prestigious American degrees (from Harvard and Stanford)  and years of experience in various leadership roles, Etsy Inc’s new CEO Kruti is a tech-savvy leader from the Gujarati and Marwari communities known for their sharp business acumen. In her career spanning 15 years at Etsy headquarters in New York, she rose through ranks, like Director of Marketplace Integrity, VP Business Development, SVP Product, Chief Product Officer, and President and Chief Growth Officer.

Growing up in north India where textile embroidery is a household art passing through generations, Kruti Patel Goyal shares an umbilical bond with Indian handcraft traditions. Her love for handcrafts across geographies, her upbringing in business communities, her American education, and her innate leadership traits came together to gel her way to the hot seat in the C-suite – of course, through challenges.

However, the ‘CEO’ hat that Kruti is going to don at Etsy – America’s largest online marketplace for independent artisans, creators, and art curators – is not the first to her. For 3 years, she worked as CEO of Depop, a resale fashion marketplace that Etsy acquired for $1.6 billion in 2022. With her strategic thinking, business-critical decisions, and keen understanding of Gen Z consumers, Kruti not just revived Depop; she catapulted it to TIME’s list of 100 most influential companies in 2024.

Why Etsy is Betting on Kruti Patel Goyal as CEO

Depop’s multiplied popularity and Etsy’s slow-paced growth amid current challenges is the driving force behind Kruti’s appointment as CEO of Etsy Inc. Interestingly, her tenure as CEO of Depop was fruitful with a 40% increase in the number of active sellers and active buyers. Her collective experience in product innovation, market expansion, operational strategy, changing consumer behavior, marketplace integrity, and engineering could be a lever for Etsy Inc to accelerate its growth in emerging markets across the globe.

Kruti Patel Goyal’s appointment as Etsy Inc’s CEO in 2026 reinforces the latest study by the Manhattan Institute that says – highly educated, skilled Indian immigrants benefit the US economy with their fiscal contributions that help reduce the national debt over the long term. They do also support the US-India travel ecosystem. Though the Indian immigrant community makes up merely 1.5% of the US population, its direct contribution – $250-300 – to the US economy is an estimated 5-6% of the income tax.

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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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The post These Durga Puja Events in New York and New Jersey Turn East Coast into a Mini Bengal This Time of Year first appeared on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

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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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