Nandan Nilekani is one of the most popular and richest Entrepreneur who was born on June 2, 1955 in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
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 24 August 2017. After the exit of Vishal Sikka, Nilekani was appointed as non-executive chairman of the board effective August 24, 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 2019.
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. During his five-year tenure as CEO, Infosys’ topline grew sixfold to $3 billion.
Nandan Nilekani was born on 2 June 1955 at Bangalore, Karnataka. His parents Durga and Mohan Rao Nilekani are from Konkani Goud Saraswat 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 in the USA.