South Asians New Power Elite
An estimated 2.5 million Indians live in the U.S. In recent years, South Asians have found a large amount of success in technology and financial services, which was highlighted by the arrest made on October 16, 2009, of Raj Rajaratnam, founder of Galleon Group.
Raj Rajaratnam, the Sri Lankan hedge-fund billionaire, is being pursued by Preet Bharara, the Indian-born, Ivy League-educated prosecutor. Both men belong to a relatively small immigrant group who have formed a power elite in the U.S., as written by S. Mitra Kalita in The Wall Street Journal.
Authorities say Mr. Rajaratnam conspired with Intel Capital employee Rajiv Goel and Anil Kumar, a director of McKinsey & Co. global management-consulting firm, between 2006 and 2008. All three received M.B.A. degrees from the Wharton School.
A 1965 law opened U.S. borders by abolishing quotas and attracted the brightest and best-educated. This allowed South Asians to dominate highly skilled professions.
Mr. Rajaratnam was born and raised in Sri Lanka. He studied engineering at the University of Sussex in England and graduated from Wharton in 1983.
Mr. Bharara earned degrees from Harvard University and Columbia Law School. He was born in Ferozepur, India, and arrived in the U.S. as a baby.
The boom in high-technology and financial services lured consultants, investment bankers, and entrepreneurs. One Duke University study found that more than a fourth of all tech start-ups in the U.S. between 1995 and 2005 were initiated by immigrants.
Organizations such as the Indus Entrepreneurs, better known as TiE, often drew venture capitalists and people in private equity and hedge funds. Indian immigrants became known for their ideas and work ethic.
For some immigrants, the attraction to hedge funds was logical. Jobs were competitive and lucrative, yet favored the mathematically minded. Compared to the cozy world of investment banking, some South Asians might have found hedge funds to be more of a meritocracy, according to observers.
