Nandan Nilekani

Nandan Nilekani was born on June 2, 1955, in Bengaluru and studied electrical engineering at IIT Bombay. Before co-founding Infosys, he worked at Patni Computer Systems alongside Murthy, where he developed skills in client relationship management and business development. Nilekani possessed a rare combination of technical understanding, commercial instinct, and the ability to articulate complex ideas to non-technical audiences. In the early Infosys years, he became the company's primary external face — the person who could explain the offshore delivery model to skeptical Western CIOs and convince them that Indian engineers could handle mission-critical work. His 2008 book 'Imagining India' established him as a public intellectual on technology and governance.

Nandan Nilekani served as Infosys CEO from 2002 to 2007, a period when the company expanded aggressively into global markets and deepened its position with Fortune 500 clients. He was instrumental in building the company's brand, client relationships, and strategic positioning. After leaving Infosys, Nilekani was appointed chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in 2009, where he led the creation of Aadhaar — the world's largest biometric identity system, covering over 1.3 billion people. He returned to Infosys as non-executive chairman in August 2017 during the company's most serious governance crisis, following the Panaya controversy and Vishal Sikka's resignation. His return stabilized the board, restored investor confidence, and led to the appointment of Salil Parekh as CEO. Nilekani continues to serve as chairman, providing strategic oversight while Parekh handles operational execution. His lasting contribution to Infosys is the idea that technology institutions must combine commercial scale with public trust.