Sundar Pichai, Romesh Wadhwani and Kanwal Rekhi gave money to campaigns of Indian American congressional hopefuls.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: It is a derby where Hillary Clinton routs Donald Trump.
The presumptive Democratic party nominee completely routs presumptive Republican nominee when it comes to campaign donations received from top Indian American technology leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives.
An American Bazaar analysis of campaign finance records from a dozen top Indian American business leaders reveals that Clinton is the favorite choice for president.
Four from the list have given money to Clinton in this election cycle: Vivek Ranadivé, founder of TIBCO and current owner of Sacramento Kings; Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka; MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga; and Padmasree Warrior, CEO of U.S. for NextEV.
Notably, none have given any money to Trump. The only other presidential candidate who received the money from the list the Bazaar examine is Sen. Marco Rubio, who received $2,700 from Bharat Desai, co-founder and chairman of Syntel, before dropping out of the race. Desai is a resident of Florida, the state that Rubio represents in the U.S. Senate.
In total, Indian American donors analyzed by the American Bazaar gave a combined $111,075 to either political candidates, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or PACs.
Indian Americans who are running for Congress received money from multiple donors and Ro Khanna appears to be the darling of Indian American tech titans.
Here is the complete list of donors analyzed by the Bazaar:
Ajay Banga: The MasterCard CEO has donated $5,400 each to Senators Rob Portman and Chuck Schumer, and $2,700 to Clinton. He has also given $5,000 to MasterCard Inc. He received the civilian honor of the Padma Shri in 2016 from the government of India.
Bharat Desai: The Syntel Inc. founder’s sole campaign donation was to the presidential campaign of Sen. Marco Rubio, to whom he gave the maximum $2,700. Desai is a Florida senator. One of the world’s richest Indians, Desai co-founded Syntel with his wife, Neerja Sethi.
Rajiv Gupta: The Delphi executive donated $2,700 to the campaign of Barve and $5,000 to the Tyco International PAC. The former GM at Hewlett Packard sits on the board of Tyco.
Vindo Khosla: Besides writing a big check of $19,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Sun Microsystems founder has given $5,400 to Rep. Ron Wyden and ($2,700) to Rep. Jerry McNerney. The self-made billionaire has been involved in Sun Microsystems and TiE.
Thomas Kurian: The Oracle executive gave Khanna $5,000 — ostensibly $2,700 for the primary and $2,300 for the general election campaign. Among the top 25 highest paid men in 2010, Kurian was also the 5th highest-paid tech executive in the same year. Kurian is the President of Product Development at Oracle Corporation.
Shantanu Narayen: The Adobe CEO gave $1,500 to Democrat Zoe Lofgren. In 2011, US President Barack Obama appointed him as a member of his Management Advisory Board.
Indra Nooyi: The PepsiCo CEO gave eight donations of $192 to PepsiCo Inc’s PAC totaling $1,536. The only other campaign money she gave was a $1,500 donation to Kathleen Matthews, the wife of broadcaster Chris Matthews who ran against Barve in Maryland. Ranked among the top 100 most powerful women the world, Nooyi has a net worth of nearly $150 million.
Sundar Pichai: The Google CEO has given $5,400 each to Khanna and Sen. Chuck Schumer and $2,700 John Thune. The biggest recipient of his largesse is Google Inc, which received $8,000 from its CEO. The billionaire was formerly the Product Chief at Google, however, Pichai later became the CEO.
Vivek Ranadive: The Sacramento Kings owner has given $2,700 to Clinton—the maximum he can donate during the primary. Also the founder and former CEO of TIBCO, the businessman has a net worth of $700 million.
Kanwal Rekhi: The Inventus Capital founder has donated money to congressional candidates Raja Krishnamoorthi ($5,400), Kumar Barve ($2,700), Ro Khanna ($5,400), Ami Bera ($5,400), and Tulsi Gabbard. Barve ran unsuccessfully for the open seat. The Venture capitalist Angel Investor also gives a lot back to the community. He has donated a combined $8 million to Michigan Tech and IIT Bombay.
Vishal Sikka: The only candidate the Infosys CEO has donated money to is Clinton, who received $2,700 from him. Sikka announced his departure from the Executive Board of SAP in 2014 for personal reasons.
Kavitark Shriram: The Sherpalo Ventures founder has given $5,400 to Ro Khanna. Shriram was one of the first investors of Google and at one point own 3.4 million shares.
Romesh Wadhwani: The tech titan has given money to three congressional candidates: Bera ($2,700), Krishnamoorthi ($2,700) and Khanna ($5,400). Wadhwani is Executive Chairman of Symphony Teleca Corporation, MSC Software Inc., Symphony Health Solutions Inc. and Shopzilla Inc.
Padmasree Warrior: The biggest check the former Cisco executive wrote was for Clinton: $2,700. Additionally, she also gave $1,539 for the Cisco PAC in four installments. Recognized by Forbes for her many accolades, Warrior is the CEO of U.S. for NextEV, an electric vehicle company.