Nandan Nilekani

Nandan Nilekani (born 2 June 1955) is an Indian entrepreneur, bureaucrat and politician. He co-founded Infosys and is the Non Executive Chairman of Infosys replacing R Seshasayee and Ravi Venkatesan, who were the co-chairs of the board, on 24th August, 2017. He was the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). After a successful career at Infosys, he headed the Government of India's technology committee, TAGUP. He is a member of Indian National Congress but not active in politics as of 2015. Post the exit of Vishal Sikka, Nandan Nilekani was appointed as Non Executive Chairman of the Board effective Aug 24, 2017.

Childhood & Early Life

· Nandan Nilekani was born on 2 June 1955 at Bangalore, Karnataka. His parents Durga and Mohan Rao Nilekani are from Konkani Brahmin community originally from Sirsi town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka His father worked as a general manager of Mysore and Minerva Mills and subscribed to Fabian Socialist ideals that influenced Nilekani in his early years. Nilekani's elder brother, Vijay, works in the Nuclear Energy Institute.

· Nilekani studied at the Bishop Cotton Boys' School and St. Joseph High School Dharwad, Karnataka PU College Dharwad and received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai.

Career

· Nilekani in 1978 started his career at the Mumbai-based Patni Computer Systems, where he met and was interviewed by N.R. Narayana Murthy. In 1981, Nilekani, Murthy, and five others left Patni to start their own company, Infosys. Nilekani became the chief executive officer of Infosys in March 2002 and served as CEO of the company through April 2007, when he relinquished his position to his colleague Kris Gopalakrishnan and became co-chairman of the board of directors. Before assuming leadership as CEO in 2002, Nilekani held various posts, including managing director, president, and chief operating officer. He served as its CEO from March 2002 to April 2007.

· Nilekani left Infosys in July 2009 to serve as the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, a cabinet-ranking position that he entered under the invitation of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

· As chair of the UIDAI he is responsible for implementing the envisioned Multipurpose National Identity Card, or Unique Identity card (UID Card) project in India. This initiative aims to provide a unique identification number for all residents of India and will be used primarily as the basis for efficient delivery of welfare services. The identification method will be biometric, and the drive to create this government database of the entire population of India has been called "the biggest social project on the planet."

· Nilekani joined Indian National Congress in March 2014 and contested from the Bangalore South constituency where he lost by 228,575 votes to BJP candidate Ananth Kumar in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

· Nilekani is currently chairman of EkStep, a non-profit literacy and numeracy platform. Set up by the Nilekanis with an initial commitment of $10 million (about Rs 65 crore), EkStep looks at solving the 'learning problem' by creating a technology-led platform to help children in improving their 'learning outcomes' quite early in their life. EkStep intends to do it using gamified apps, hosted in the Google Play Store.

Major Works

· Nilekani is currently President of the Governing Body of the New Delhi-based National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), India’s largest and oldest non-profit economic research think tank. NCAER, established in 1956, does grant-funded independent economic policy research and sponsored research studies for governments and industry.

· It’s work covers almost all branches of economics, from economic forecasting to poverty analysis. NCAER is among a handful of think tanks globally that collect primary survey data on a scientific, national basis covering households, enterprises, consumers, and individuals. NCAER’s economic and social data sets are used widely for research and analysis on India.

· Nilekani is also a serial investor and he has invested in around 12 start-ups till date which includes: ShopX, Juggernaut, Mubble Networks, Fortigo, P2SME, Railyatri, Axiom Consulting, Systemantics India, Sedemac Mechatronics, Disha Medical Services, Tracxn, LetsVenture.

Awards & Achievements

· He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree by the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto on 31 May 2011.

· He received NDTV Indian of the Year's Transformational Idea of the Year Award in 2011

· He was named Corporate Citizen of the Year at the Asia Business Leaders Award (2004) organised by CNBC.

· Joseph Schumpeter Prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics – 2005.

· In 2009, Time magazine placed Nilekani in the Time 100 list of 'World's Most Influential People'

· Was presented the 'Legend in Leadership Award' by the Yale University in November 2009. He is the first Indian to receive the top honour.

· In January 2006, Nilekani became on the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board.

· Nilekani was awarded one of India's highest civilian honours, the Padma Bhushan, in 2006.

· Also in 2006, he was named Businessman of the Year by Forbes Asia.

· India Today magazine ranked him #12th in India's 50 Most powerful people of 2017 list.

Personal Life & Legacy

· Nilekani is married to Rohini Nilekani (née Soman), whom he met at a quizzing event at IIT. They have two children, Nihar and Janhavi, each of whom has received an undergraduate degree from Yale University. Nandan Nilekani belongs to the Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin community and his first language is Konkani. In addition to Konkani, he speaks Kannada fluently along with Hindi, Marathi, and English. The Nilekani family has a 2.29 percent stake in Infosys as per the quarter ended June 2017.