Famous Indian entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani, who co-founded Infosys, turns 67 on Thursday, June 2.
Nilekani is the co-founder of tech giant Infosys and has been its non-executive chairman since 2017. Nilekani, who left Infosys in 2009, was brought back in 2017 after a boardroom shakeup at the company and the sudden departure of its CEO.
Nilekani left Infosys in July 2009 to serve as the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a cabinet ranking position that he entered under the invitation of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
As chair of the UIDAI he was responsible for implementing the 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 drive to create this government database of the entire population of India has been called “the biggest social project on the planet.”
He is a member of Indian National Congress but has not been active in politics since 2015. In 2016, Mililani joined a committee to investigate how people in India could use digital payments to a greater extent.
Nandan Nilekani is currently chairman of EkStep, a non-profit literacy and numeracy platform. Set up by the Nilekanis with an initial commitment of US$10million, Este looks at solving the ‘learning problem’ by creating a technology-led platform to help children in improving their learning outcomes early in their lives.
Nilekani is also President of the Governing Body of the New Dehli based National Council of Applied Economic Research, India’s largest and oldest non-profit economic research think tank.
Nilekani is also a serial investor and has invested in around 12 tech star-ups to date.
Early Life And Family
Nilekani was born on 2nd June 1955 in the Sirsi town of North Kannada district in the state of Karnataka. He is the youngest son of Durga and Mohan Rao Nilekani and is a Saraswat Brahmin.
He was educated in Bangalore’s Bishop Cotton Boys School. His early years were marked by his father’s frequent job transfers and subsequent relocations.Therefore, at age 12, he had to move to Dharwad district in Karnataka to live with his Uncle and joined St. Joseph’s High School there. He completed his electrical engineering degree from IIT Bombay in 1978.
After graduation, he joined Patni Computers under N. R. Narayan Murthy. Three years later, he along with Murthy and 5 others, founded Infosys Technologies Ltd., which went on to became an IT giant in India. He moved to US to become the company’s marketing face before returning to become its CEO.
Nandan Nilekani is married to Rohini Nilekani and with her, has a daughter and a son. His elder brother, Vijay, works in the Nuclear Energy Institute.
Nilekani's Brief Political Foray
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.
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.
Although he remains a member of the Indian National Congress, Nilekani is not active in politics.
Awards And Honours
Nilekani has been widely recognised for his achievements.
Fortune Magazine conferred him with “Asia’s Businessman of the year 2003”.
In 2005 he received the prestigious Joseph Schumpeter prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics.
In 2006, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan. He was also named Businessman of the year by Forbes Asia.
Time magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 & 2009.
Foreign Policy magazine listed him as one of the Top 100 Global thinkers in 2010.
He won The Economist Social & Economic Innovation Award for his leadership of India’s Unique Identification initiative (Aadhaar).
In 2017, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from E&Y. CNBC- TV 18 conferred India Business leader award for outstanding contributor to the Indian Economy-2017 and he also received the 22nd Nikkei Asia Prize for Economic & Business Innovation 2017.
He has been inducted as International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019.
