America a land of immigrants, says Satya Nadella

Satyla Nadella said it should be America first in the US like it should be India first in India when it comes to creating jobs.

New Delhi, Feb 22: Calling America a land of immigrants, Microsoft Corp chief executive Satya Nadella said the US stands for inclusion and diversity and he himself had beneficiary of its enlighten immigration policy. He, however, said it should be America first in the US like it should be India first in India when it comes to creating jobs.

For Microsoft, the guiding principles are of "creating economic opportunity in every country that we participated. For example in India I have to be able to talk about India first. What have we done for India's economic growth. In America, it is America first and in the UK, it is UK first."

"The second principle for us is as an American company, we will always stand forward, I think enduring values of America, it is a land of immigrants. We stand for inclusion and our diversity. These are the two core things that will drive how we advocate for any policy or against any policy in any country for that matter," he told CNBC TV18.

He was asked to comment on US President Donald Trump's immigration policies and move to curb H1B work visas that will hurt India. "So I always go back to these two guiding principles and I am a perfect example of that because if it is not for American technology reaching me growing up in India, I wouldn't have been able to dream the dream and I wouldn't have been able to live the dream if it is not for the enlighten immigration policy of the United States. Having benefited from those two and that personal experience is what informs what we do," he said.

Stating that everyone is subject to the laws of land, he said if any country has policies that dictate economic opportunity creation that is specific to that country, "we have to essentially deliver on that." He said he believed that ultimately every country looking at its own national interest will also come to the conclusion that none can live in isolation and they will look for fair trade deals.

"And in the context of fair trade deals, they will want to get world class technology to be part of their economy. So I don't take any swing towards nationalism or globalisation as a permanent swing. These are all both have to be kept in balance and that is what we are seeing out there," he added.

pti