Satya Nadella's rise reflects how good Indian students are: Chidambaram

Hailing Satya Nadella's appointment as Microsoft CEO, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said it is a reflection of how good Indian students are.

India-born Satya Nadella was on Tuesday named as the new CEO of the $78-billion tech giant. Nadella, who takes over as the third CEO of the Redmond-based firm, is the first Indian to head the world's largest software firm in its 38-year history, ending months of speculation as to who would succeed the retiring Steve Ballmer.

"Some Indian students are just as good (as in US or China), otherwise you cannot have a 46-year old Indian named as head of Microsoft yesterday (Tuesday)," he told students of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), who responded with huge round of applause.

Chidambaram said Nadella has risen to be the head of Microsoft because he acquired that professional edge which places him above the Chinese counterpart or an American counterpart or European counterpart.

Addressing the business conclave of SRCC, the finance minister said Indians students will have to keep in mind that they are in competition with students in other countries who are exposed to much greater knowledge. "You are competing with some unknown student, somewhere in the US or China, more likely China. That student is now in a University which ranks among the top 10 universities in the world. You are in the university which does not figure in the top 200 in the world. The world is global, whether you like it or not. All skills will now be measured only with one standard, the global standard," he said.