Indian universities have been facing difficulty getting world-class status as a very few Indian higher educational institutions have made it through the global rankings. We need to understand the unique challenges of the Indian higher education sector and what academic leaders of globally ranked institutions do to respond to those challenges. The interview-based qualitative study was designed to identify the key roles and responsibilities of leaders. Nvivo Pro was used for the initial analysis of the interview scripts of twelve academic leaders of globally ranked higher educational institutions. Nine responsibilities -- visioning, fundraising, safeguarding, managing intellectuals, attracting bright students, social inclusion, social responsibility, engaging into academics, and administration -- were explored under four latent categories of academic leadership roles that included boundary spanning, nurturing human talent, social contribution, and operations using a 'six-step thematic analysis approach'. These roles are discussed in the 'Results and discussion' section with respect to the challenges that the Indian higher education sector faces. Our paper identified a unique emerging theme 'social inclusion' that plays a vital role in the worldwide status of Indian higher education. We provide a few guidelines for developing and strengthening Indian academic leadership as well.