Nandan Nilekani | |
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Personal details | |
Born | Bangalore, Mysore State (present-day Karnataka), India |
Political party | Indian National Congress [1] [2] |
Education | Bachelor of Technology |
Alma mater | Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay |
Occupation | Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys, and former Chairman of UIDAI |
Awards | Padma Bhushan (2006) |
Nandan Mohanrao Nilekani is an Indian entrepreneur. He co-founded Infosys and is the non-executive chairman of Infosys [3] replacing R Seshasayee and Ravi Venkatesan, who were the co-chairs of the board, on 24 August 2017. After the exit of Vishal Sikka, Nilekani was appointed as non-executive chairman of the board effective 24 August 2017. [4] He was the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). [5] After a successful career at Infosys, he headed the Government of India's technology committee, TAGUP. [6] He is a member of Indian National Congress but not active in politics as of 2019. [7]
Nandan Nilekani was born in Bangalore. [8] His parents Durga and Mohan Rao Nilekani were Konkani originally from Sirsi in Karnataka. [9] [10] 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 in the United States.
Nilekani studied at the Bishop Cotton Boys' School and St. Joseph's High School Dharwad, Karnataka PU College Dharwad and received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. [11]
In 1978 he 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. [12] [13] [14] During his five-year tenure as CEO, Infosys' topline grew sixfold to $3 billion.
In 2017 he returned to Infosys after the exit of CEO Vishal Sikka to become a chairman. Upon his return he changed power centre from California back to its Bengaluru headquarters. [15] Also, such people as R. Seshasayee (a chairman and board director), Ravi Venkatesan (a co-chairman), Sikka (executive vice chairman and director), and Jeffrey Lehman and John Etchemendy (directors) resigned from their posts. [16]
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. [12] [13] As chair of the UIDAI he was 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 the efficient delivery of welfare services. [14] 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." [17]
They developed Aadhaar, which is an Indian biometric ID system, a database, which contains demographic information, home addresses of Indians. In April 2017 1.14 billion Indian people got their ID number. In 2016, World Bank Chief Economist Paul Romer called Aadhaar “the most sophisticated ID programme in the world.” This program is criticized for violating people's privacy and exposing personal information. [18]
He is a member of the board of governors of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and the president of NCAER. [14] He also sits on several advisory boards, including those of the World Economic Forum Foundation and the Bombay Heritage Fund. [19]
Nilekani has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote his book Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation [20] and spoke at a TED conference in 2009 on his ideas for India's future. [21]
Nilekani joined Indian National Congress in March 2014 and contested from the Bangalore South constituency where he lost by 228,575 votes [22] to BJP candidate Ananth Kumar in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. [23]
In December 2016, he joined a committee to investigate how people in India could use digital payments to a greater extent. [24]
According to news reports, he was the richest candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with declared assets worth Rs 7,710 crore in his affidavit filed before the Election Commission. [25]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
BJP | Ananth Kumar | 633,816 | 56.9% | |
INC | Nandan Nilekani | 405,241 | 36.4% | |
JD(S) | Ruth Manorama | 25,677 | 2.3% | |
AAP | Nina P. Nayak | 21,403 | 1.9% | |
Turnout | 1,113,726 | 55.7% | ||
BJP hold | ||||
Nilekani is chairman of EkStep, a non-profit literacy and numeracy platform. [27] Set up by the Nilekanis with an initial commitment of $10 million (about Rs 82 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. [28]
Nilekani is president of the governing body of the New Delhi-based National Council of Applied Economic Research [29] (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. Its 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 technologoy startups including 10i Commerce, Juggernaut, Mubble Networks, Fortigo, P2SME, Railyatri, Axiom Consulting, Systemantics India, Sedemac Mechatronics, Disha Medical Services, Tracxn Technologies, and LetsVenture. [30]
In 2017 Nandan and wife Rohini decided to donate 50 percent of their wealth to Giving Pledge , which is a movement organized by Bill Gates. The reason why they joined this movement was as following: "We see inequality is increasing sharply in most countries. We see the young and the restless in this interconnected globe, unsure of their future, wanting more but anticipating less." [31]
He also donated money to rebuild the hostel campus of IIT Bombay. [32]
In 2008 he also set up the Indian Institute for Human Settlements to help to solve urban challenges for India. [33]
Nilekani is married to Rohini Nilekani (née Soman), whom he met at a quizzing event at IIT. [34] They have two children, Nihar and Janhavi, each of whom has received an undergraduate degree from Yale University. [35] His first language is Konkani. In addition to Konkani, he speaks Kannada fluently along with English, Marathi, and Hindi. The Nilekani family has a 2.31 percent stake [36] in Infosys as per the quarter ended March 2018. [37]
The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay is a public research university and technical institute in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy is an Indian billionaire businessman. He is one of the seven co-founders of Infosys, and has previously served as the chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president, and chief mentor of the company before retiring and taking the title chairman emeritus. As of April 2023, his net worth was estimated to be $4.1 billion, making him the 711th richest person in the world according to Forbes.
Rajendra Singh Pawar is an Indian entrepreneur, chairman and co-founder of NIIT Limited, established in 1981. He also founded NIIT University, a not-for-profit university in Neemrana, Rajasthan, in 2009.
National Knowledge Commission was an Indian think-tank charged with considering possible policies that might sharpen India's comparative advantage in the knowledge-intensive service sectors. It was constituted on 13 June 2005, by the then Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh.
NDTV Profit is an Indian business and financial news television channel by NDTV. In mid-2020, NDTV re-launched NDTV Profit with live market news, which caused the shutdown of NDTV Prime. Since the relaunch, NDTV Profit broadcasts some programs from NDTV Prime after the market hours, weekends, and public holidays. NDTV Profit is also running NDTV 24x7 feed sometimes. Since June 2021, NDTV Profit airs NDTV 24x7 feed for 24 hours.
John Matthai CIE (1886–1959) was an economist who served as Independent India's first Railway Minister and subsequently as well as India's Finance Minister, taking office shortly after the presentation of India's first Budget, in 1948. He was born on January 10, 1886, as the son of Challiyal Thomas Matthai and Anna Thayyil to an Anglican Syrian Christian family. He graduated in economics from the University of Madras. He served as a Professor and Head in University of Madras from 1922 to 1925. He presented two Budgets as India's Finance Minister, but resigned following the 1950 Budget in protest against the increasing power of the Planning Commission and P. C. Mahalanobis. He was the first Chairman of the State Bank of India when it was set up in 1955. He was the founding President of the Governing Body of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in New Delhi, India's first independent economic policy institute established in 1956. He served as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Mumbai from 1955 till 1957 and then as the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Kerala from 1957 to 1959. His nephew, Verghese Kurien, is generally recognized as the architect of India's White Revolution. Dr. John Matthai Centre, Thrissur, located on the large plot of land donated by his family, is named in his honour. His wife, Achamma Matthai was an Indian social worker and a women's rights activist. The Government of India honoured him in 1954 with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award, for his contributions to the society,
Senapathy "Kris" Gopalakrishnan is an Indian businessman and the Chairman of Axilor Ventures, an accelerator that helps start-ups during the early stage of their business journey. Kris served as the vice chairman of Infosys from 2011 to 2014 and the chief executive officer and managing director of Infosys from 2007 to 2011. Kris is one of the co-founders of Infosys.
S. D. Shibulal, better known as Shibulal, is an Indian business executive. He was the chief executive officer and managing director of Infosys, and one of its seven founding members. He stepped down from the post of CEO and MD on 31 July 2014 and was succeeded by the first non-founder CEO of Infosys Dr. Vishal Sikka. He is the president of the Infosys Science Foundation for the year 2015.
Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by all residents of India, based on their biometrics and demographic data. The data is collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a statutory authority established in January 2009 by the Government of India, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, following the provisions of the Aadhaar Act, 2016.
Nadathur Sarangapani Raghavan is an Indian industrialist, and one of the seven founders of Infosys Technologies, a global consulting and IT services company based in India. The company was incorporated as "Infosys Consultants Pvt Ltd.", with Raghavan's house in Model Colony, north-central Pune as the registered office. Raghavan is the first official employee of the Infosys company and he retired as joint managing director in 2000. After retiring from Infosys, he worked as a chairman at Murugappa Group for one year. Along with a few associates, he started Nadathur Holdings & Investments in 2000. He is currently the chairman of the advisory council of the N. S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) at IIM Bangalore.
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Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects (TAGUP) is a Government of India advisory group to look into technology part of 5 large financial sector projects. It is headed by former UIDAI chairman, Nandan Nilekani.
The Centre for India & Global Business is a research centre that was launched in March 2009 as part of the Cambridge Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, England, to support the university's growing engagement with India.
Vishal Sikka is the founder and CEO of Vianai, former CTO of SAP AG, and former CEO of Infosys. He currently also serves on Oracle's board of directors, the supervisory board of the BMW Group and as an advisor to the Stanford Institute of Human-Centered AI.
V Ramgopal Rao is an Indian academic currently serving as the Group Vice Chancellor of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani for campuses located in Pilani, Dubai, Goa, Hyderabad and Mumbai. He was previously the Director of IIT, Delhi for six years during 2016-2021.
National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) is India’s oldest and largest independent, non-profit, economic policy research think tank. Established in New Delhi in 1956, it acquired considerable national and international standing within only a few decades of its founding. It is one of a handful of think tanks globally that combine rigorous analysis and policy outreach with deep data collection capabilities, especially for household surveys.
Ajay Bhushan Pandey is a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer belonging to the Maharashtra cadre. He is former Finance Secretary of India. He is also former chief executive officer (CEO) of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the nodal agency of Government of India responsible for implementing Aadhaar. He also worked as the chairman of Goods and Services Tax Network from September 2017 to March 2021. Currently, he is Chairman of National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA).
Rohini Nilekani is an Indian writer, author and philanthropist. She is the founder of Arghyam Foundation, a non-profit that focuses on water and sanitation issues, founded in 2001. She also chairs the Akshara Foundation, which focuses on elementary education. Nilekani serves as the co-founder and director of non-profit education platform, EkStep. She is chairperson of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies.
... The Unique Identification Authority of India is being established under the aegis of the Planning Commission for which a notification has been issued in January 2009. A provision of Rs. 100 crore has been made in the annual Plan 2009–10 for this ...
... The appointment of Nandan Mohan Nilekani, the co-chairman of Infosys, as the chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India is significant, not only because it marks a departure from the traditional government way of working... it shows that the government has actually put out an effort to hunt the right person for the job ...
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