Fact Check: No, NASA didn’t have 58% Indian employees, misleading post getting viral

A viral post on social media shared on January 1, 2020, shows certain claims such as NASA has 58% Indian employees, Google’s CEO is Indian, Nokia’s CEO is Indian, Adobe ‘s CEO is Indian, Amazon’s BOD is Indian, MasterCard’s CEO is Indian, Microsoft’s CEO is Indian, Pepsico’s CEO was Indian Indra Nooyi. Vishvas News investigated each claim separately. While some of the claims are true, some were fake. Overall, the viral post is misleading.

Claim

The viral post on social media reads: Google’s CEO is Indian, Nokia’s CEO is Indian, Adobe’s CEO is Indian, Amazon’s BOD is Indian, MasterCard’s CEO is Indian, Microsoft’s CEO is Indian, Pepsico’s CEO was Indian Indra Nooyi, NASA has 58% Indian employees. Salute to Indian brothers and sisters.The post is shared on Facebook on January 1, 2020, by a user named Faishal Saifi. The archived version of the post can be checked here.

Investigation

Vishvas News started its investigation by fact-checking the claim NASA has 58% employees as Indians.

According to the DATA and Analytics Unit of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Asian American or Pacific Islander accounts 8 percent of NASA’s workforce by Race and Ethnicity and 1.1% as American Indian. As per the official website of NASA, “NASA employs nearly 17,000 people with diverse backgrounds. Seventy-two percent of NASA employees are White or Caucasian, 12 percent are Black or African American, 7 percent are Asian American or Pacific Islander, 8 percent or Hispanic or Latino; 1 percent are American Indian or Alaska Native, and less than 1 percent are more than one race.”

As per the NASA Model Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Agency Plan, the percentage of Asian American or Pacific Islander has risen from 4.5% of the total workforce in 1996 to 7.4% in 2016. However, it is still nowhere close to 58% as mentioned in the viral post. The term Asian American includes Asian ethnicities, not only Indians. This means the proportion of Indian employees in NASA to the total number is likely to be lower than the numbers provided in the Asian American or Pacific Islander category.

We spoke to Katherine Brown, Public Affairs Officer, NASA and she said that these figures are not correct. The correct figures for NASA’s workforce can be checked by clicking on this link.

Another claim in the viral post suggests: Google’s CEO is an Indian. As of today, January 23, 2020, Sundar Pichai is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Google. He is an India born world-class figure. His nationality is American, India-born American.

Another claim states, Nokia’s CEO is an Indian. The CEO of Nokia is Rajeev Suri. He is an India-born Singaporean citizen.

Another claim suggests: Adobe’s CEO is an Indian. The CEO of Adobe is Indian-origin Shantanu Narayen. He is a citizen of the United States.

Another claim in the viral post is Amazon’s BOD is Indian. We could not ascertain the position BOD in Amazon. However, the officers and Directors of Amazon include Jeffrey P. Bezos as President, CEO and Chairman of the Board, Brian T. Olsavsky as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial officer and other. We could not find any position by the name BOD.

Another claim on the viral post is: Mastercard’s CEO is an Indian. When Vishvas News investigated we found that Ajay Banga is president and chief executive officer of Mastercard and a member of its board of directors. As per a website Ledger-Enquirer, Indian origin Ajay Banga became a citizen of US in 2007.

Another claim suggests: Microsoft’s CEO is an Indian. When we investigated, we found that Satya Nadella is the Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft. Originally from Hyderabad, India, Nadella lives in Bellevue, Washington.

Another claim in the viral post is: Pepsi’s CEO was Indra Noyee, an Indian.When Vishvas News investigated we found that Indra Nooyi is an Indian American business executive and former CEO of PepsiCo.