Nandan Nilekani was born on 2 June 1955, in Bangalore, Mysore State, India, and is a politician and entrepreneur, best known for being the co-founder of the company Infosys – he is the Non-Executive Chairman of the board of the company. He is also a member of the Indian National Congress party (INC), but all of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Nandan Nilekani? As of late-2017, sources estimate a net worth that is at $1.3 billion, mostly earned through success in business, and involvement in politics, including as the head of the Government of India’s technology committee. As he continues his endeavors, it is expected that his wealth will also continue to increase.
Nandan Nilekani Net Worth $1.3 billion
Nandan was educated at Bishop Cotton Boys’ School and later St. Joseph High School Dharwad. After matriculating, he attended Karnataka PU College Dharwad, and then completed his studies at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, graduating with a degree in electrical engineering. In 1978, Nandan joined Patni Computer Systems located in Mumbai; three years later, he and a few other employees left Patni to start their own company, named Infosys. The company would grow under their care, and increase his net worth significantly. In 2002, having held numerous positions in the company on the way to the top, he would become the chief executive officer of the company, serving in that position for five years. He eventually relinquished his position, but remained as a co-chairman of the board of directors, with all his efforts helping Infosys become a billion dollar company. His net worth also reached billions as a result.
In 2009, Nilekani left Infosys to become a part of the Indian government, when invited by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to become the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India or UIDAI. He helped implement the Unique Identity Card (UID) project in India, aimed at to helping the efficient delivery of welfare services in the country. It has been called the biggest social project in the world using biometrics, and creating a government database of the population of India. He also wrote the book entitled “Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation” which was promoted through the television show “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”. He also spoke at a TED conference to state his ideas for the country.
In 2014, Nandan then joined the Indian National Congress party. Two years later, he joined a committee to investigate how the country could improve on the use of digital payments.
Nandan also continues to invest, and has helped fund around 12 start-ups, including Tracxn, LetsVenture, 10i Commerce, and Juggernaut. He’s been awarded numerous times throughout his career, including being named as NDTV Indian of the Year in 2011. He also won the Joseph Schumpeter Prize, and the Legend in Leadership Award from Yale University.
For his personal life, it is known that Nilekani is married to Rohini Soman who he met at while at a quiz night, and they have two children. Nilekani is fluent in Konkani, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi, and English. He is a supporter of numerous nonprofit organizations, including EkStep which is a literacy and numeracy platform. He is also the President of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), which is India’s oldest and largest non-profit economic research think tank.
