Nandan Nilekani is an Indian entrepreneur known for two reasons-as the co-founder of Infosys, and as the former chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
Born on June 2nd, 1955 in Bangalore, Nandan Nilekani was noted as a promising student since the beginning. After his school education in Dharwad, Nilekani joined the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay where he completed a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
Nilekani’s career began at Patni Computer Systems, where he met N.R. Narayana Murthy. In three years, he left the company with six others, and started Infosys. For two decades, he served as the managing director, president and the chief operating officer. In 2002, Nilekani became the CEO of the company, and worked till 2007. After that, he served as the co-chairman of the company’s board of directors.
In 2009, Nilekani’s life took a different turn after he became the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a cabinet-ranking position. He was responsible for implementing the Unique Identity Card (Aadhar card) project in the country, that later became the biggest social project on the planet.
His work has won Nilekani many awards including the NDTV Indian of the Year’s Transformational Idea of the Year Award in 2011, the Joseph Schumpeter Prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics and the Legend in Leadership Award by the Yale University.
In 2009, TIME magazine named him in the list of ‘World’s Most Influential People’.