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Nandan Nilekani
Co-founder and Non-Executive Chairman, Infosys- An alumnus of the prestigious Bishop Cotton Boys' School in Bengaluru, Nandan Nilekani graduated as an Electrical Engineer from the Indian Institute of Bombay in 1978
- After graduation, he joined Patni Computer Systems where he met Narayana Murthy. In 1981, the duo and five other colleagues founded Infosys. From 2002 to 2007, Nilekani served as the MD and CEO of India's most-valued technology company and during his tenure, Infosys' topline grew over six-fold to $3 billion
- The tech magnate played a crucial role in co-founding Indian IT industry lobby body, National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM)
- In 2009, he resigned from the Infosys Board as then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh invited Nandan Nilekani to head Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), in the rank of Cabinet Minister
- Nilekani was mandated with issuing unique, 12-digit Aadhaar ID numbers to all residents of India and he remained as head till he stepped down in 2014
- Known for timely execution and ability to work with diverse interests, the technocrat returned to Infosys in August 2017 as Non-Executive Chairman. In his second stint, he replaced R Seshasayee, who resigned as chairman of the board of Infosys
- His philanthropic initiatives include teaming up with Ratan Tata and setting up a microloan-focused NBFC called Avanti Finance, with initial investments of Rs 50 crore each
- In 2015, Nilekani and his wife Rohini, along with Shankar Maruwada, co-founded a not-for-profit technology-enabled platform to improve basic literacy and numeracy for millions of children. Based out of Bengaluru, they named the initiative EkStep, the funds for which came from the Nilekanis
Before you go ...
- Nandan Nilekani is a voracious reader and has authored two books, an autobiography in 2009 titled, 'Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation'. In 2015, he co-authored, 'Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations' with Viral Shah.
- Nilekani has received numerous awards during his lifetime, the major ones being Padma Bhushan in 2006, and the famous Joseph Schumpeter prize in 2005 for innovative services in economy and politics.
- He has also been honoured by Forbes, Fortune, TIME Magazine, The Economist, Foreign Policy magazine among others..
- Nandan and Rohini Nilekani decided to donate 50% of their wealth to charity and signed the Bill Gates' Giving Pledge in 2017.
Nandan Nilekani News
- Nandan Nilekani-backed ShopX files for bankruptcy“Since the business model has not succeeded, it has not been able to generate enough cash flow from operations or raise new capital and is therefore unable to meet its various payment obligations and has ceased to be a going concern,” according to the regulatory filings.
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