Nandan Nilekani (born 2 June 1955) is an Indian entrepreneur, bureaucrat and politician. 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.
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
Information Technology
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.[7][8][9] During his 5-year tenure as CEO, Infosys’ topline grew sixfold to $3 billion.
Bureaucracy
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.”
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 (the premier independent applied economics research institute in India). He also sits on several advisory boards, including those of the World Economic Forum Foundation and the Bombay Heritage Fund.
Nilekani has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote his book Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation and spoke at a TED conference in 2009 on his ideas for India’s future.
Summary
| Nandan Nilekani | |
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Nilekani at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 2007
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 2 June 1955 Vani Vilas Women and Children Hospital, Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Political party | INC |
| Residence | Bangalore |
| Alma mater | Bishop Cotton Boys’ School, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay |
| Occupation | Former chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) |
Nandan Nilekani Net Worth: Nandan Nilekani is an Indian entrepreneur who has a net worth of $1.3 billion. Mr. Nilekani initially started generating his wealth as cofounder and former CEO of Infosys, India’s third largest IT company (by revenues), which provides business consulting, technology, engineering and outsourcing services. Now, he continues to grow his fortune as Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), with most recent plans to fully dedicate to politics, i,e, he intends to run for the 2014 federal elections on a Congress Party ticket. It was some four years ago when he joined the government to become head of the Unique Identification Authority of India, which has issued 415 million online IDs to Indian residents to date. The IDs in question have been also used to make direct cash transfers of various government entitlements, among other users. His wife, Rohini Nilekani, is an active charity supporter and she even sold some Infosys shares in August in order to raise $26 million meant for donations in water supply and education. Nandan and Rohini have two children and they currently reside in Delhi, India.
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