'Would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant create next unicorn in India'

Microsoft Corp's India-born Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said he was saddened by a new citizenship law based on religion and would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant create the next unicorn in India.

"I think what is happening is sad... It's just bad.... I would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant who comes to India and creates the next unicorn in India or becomes the next CEO of Infosys" Smith wrote on the micro blogging platform Twitter, quoting the Indian-born Nadella as responding to his question, The Telegraph reported. 

His comments came while speaking to editors at a Microsoft event in Manhattan where he was asked about the contentious law, which grants citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Nadella grew up in Hyderabad, a technology hub in India that is home to the biggest Microsoft research and development center outside of the United States. 

India's Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has triggered weeks of sometimes violent protests in the world's second most populous country.

If combined with a proposed national register of citizens, critics of the CAA fear it will discriminate against India's Muslim minority and chip away at its secular constitution.

The company's India Twitter handle put out a statement quoting Nadella as saying he was shaped by "growing up in a multicultural India" and his "immigrant experience in the United States," Reuters reported. 

"My hope is for an India where an immigrant can aspire to found a prosperous start-up or lead a multinational corporation benefiting Indian society and the economy at large."

Nadella and Microsoft were among the top trending topics on Twitter in India.