Nandan M. Nilekani

Co-founder and Chairman of the Board

Nandan Nilekani is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Infosys Limited. He was the Founding Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in the rank of a Cabinet Minister from 2009- 2014. Nandan has co-founded and is the Chairman of EkStep Foundation, a not-for-profit effort to create a learner centric, technology based platform to improve basic literacy and numeracy for millions of children. In Jan 2023, he was appointed as the co-chair of the “G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure for Economic Transformation, Financial Inclusion and Development”.

Nilekani is a big believer in the amplification that AI can bring to human potential. He is optimistic that by the end of this decade, more Indians will use AI more and every day in ways that will surprise other countries in the world. With new advances in large language models, and the rise of powerful open-source AI models, Nilekani is convinced that there will be an acceleration of AI to solve tough business and societal challenges.

Born in Bengaluru, Nilekani received his Bachelor’s degree from IIT, Bombay. Fortune Magazine conferred him with “Asia’s Businessman of the year 2003”. In 2005 he received the prestigious Joseph Schumpeter prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics. In 2006, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan. He was also named Businessman of the year by Forbes Asia. Time magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 & 2009. Foreign Policy magazine listed him as one of the Top 100 Global thinkers in 2010. In 2014, He won The Economist Social & Economic Innovation Award for his leadership of India’s Unique Identification initiative (Aadhaar). In 2017, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from E & Y. CNBC- TV 18 conferred India Business leader award for outstanding contributor to the Indian Economy-2017 and he also received the 22nd Nikkei Asia Prize for Economic & Business Innovation 2017. He has been inducted as International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019. Business Standard Annual awards 2022 conferred, “The Life Time Achievement Award”.

Nandan Nilekani is the author of “Imagining India”, co- authored his second book with Viral Shah, “Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations” and co-authored his third book with Tanuj Bhojwani, “The Art of Bitfulness: Keeping calm in the digital world” released in Jan 2022.