Why global boardrooms are turning to India for their next CEO

A quiet but consequential shift is underway in global boardrooms. Increasingly, when multinational corporations search for their next chief executive, their gaze turns towards India—not merely as a market of scale, but as a crucible of leadership.

The growing demand for Indian helmsmen at the apex of global corporations reflects a deeper realisation: few environments prepare leaders for transnational complexity quite like India does.

Running a company in India is not an exercise in linear growth. It is a daily negotiation with scale, diversity, regulation, aspiration, and ambiguity. Markets overlap, stakeholders multiply, and cultural nuance often matters as much as balance sheets.

Those who have led businesses here learn, by necessity, to balance speed with sensitivity, ambition with adaptability. It is this rare managerial muscle—honed in complexity—that global corporations now value as indispensable.

This perspective finds strong endorsement from Odgers, the London-headquartered global executive search and leadership advisory firm, ranked among the world’s top six. With a presence across 66 offices in 32 countries and over five decades of experience in leadership hiring,

Odgers has seen global expectations of CEOs evolve sharply. If Dr Prasad Medury, Chairman of Odgers India, is to be believed, multinational corporations today are actively scouting India for top-level leadership talent across sectors such as automobiles, education, and manufacturing. The reason is straightforward: Indian leaders are adept at engaging diverse stakeholders, managing competing priorities, and navigating uncertainty—skills that are no longer optional at the global helm.

Alongside this geographical shift, the very profile of leadership is changing. CEO tenures are shrinking, average ages are coming down, and burnout is setting in earlier than before. Kaushik Dasgupta, Managing Partner at Odgers India, observes that many high-performing leaders are choosing to step away at relatively young ages, opting instead for entrepreneurial paths or portfolio careers.

Notably, global capital is following them—drawn by their strategic clarity, execution skills, and ability to scale ideas across markets. Leadership, it seems, is no longer about longevity alone, but about intensity and impact.

India’s pull, meanwhile, is not limited to exporting talent. The country is increasingly attracting it back. Competitive compensation, coupled with unmatched growth opportunities and complex challenges, is luring the Indian diaspora home.

Even foreign nationals, seasoned in global roles, are considering India as a destination for meaningful leadership stints. In an era where mature markets offer stability but limited upside, India presents a compelling mix of risk, reward, and relevance.

Equally significant is the change in what employers seek. The old preference for long, linear careers within a single industry is giving way to a more eclectic ideal. Organisations now value age diversity, cross-functional exposure, technological fluency, collaborative ability, and a deep understanding of sustainability and ESG imperatives.

Cross-pollination of ideas matters more than narrow specialisation. The modern CEO is expected to be a systems thinker, a team player, and a steward of long-term value.

Recognising this shift, Odgers has also invested in science-backed leadership assessment. Its proprietary psychometric tool, LeaderFit, aims to evaluate agility, resilience, and readiness for future challenges—helping organisations identify not just today’s leaders, but tomorrow’s.

Taken together, these trends point to a compelling conclusion. India does not merely produce managers; it forges leaders capable of command amid complexity. In a world where uncertainty is the only constant, that may be the most valuable credential of all.