The Technocrat
Infosys co-founder, Aadhaar captain
There are perhaps only two people in India today who truly understand the transformative power of technology and the potential it holds to solve some of India’s long-standing problems. The first is PM Narendra Modi, who demonstrated the skilful use of technology in his election campaign, and the second is Nandan Nilekani, the man behind at least a dozen technology projects of national scale with great social impact.
The best illustration of Nilekani’s vision is his leadership in initiating and running the Aadhaar programme. This was a government programme run with the energy of a private
sector start-up, with a small team working towards an extremely ambitious goal. While its primary purpose is to provide a unique identity to every Indian resident, Aadhaar’s true value has been demonstrated by its adoption in multiple other schemes. It has been the cornerstone of reforming the subsidy transfer system, for example, helping weed out corruption and ensuring that benefits reach the deserving; in banking, Aadhaar-based eKYC has broadened access to financial services and driven financial inclusion. Aadhaar has enabled the government to leapfrog existing technology, build brand-new solutions that are accessible and secure, instead of diverting resources to shore up ageing systems.
Nilekani has always been motivated by the desire to make a big, positive impact on the lives of Indians, reflected in his foray into politics. Although unsuccessful in his attempt, he quickly put it behind him and continued participating on the national stage. He has been a champion of the cashless economy and a strong proponent of the Digital India initiative. He is a leading member of the team defining IndiaStack, which uses the Aadhaar platform to create digital applications that benefit every Indian, including eKYC (banking), eSign (digital signatures), digital lockers (electronic documents) and UPI (digital payments). The data exhaust generated by GST will allow for a similar suite of applications for businesses, such as getting access to credit on the basis of data in their GST returns.
Nilekani now finds himself back at the helm of Infosys. The return is more about shaping the future of Indian IT, a bellwether of India’s GDP growth, as it faces the global headwinds of artificial intelligence and competition from western and Chinese tech giants. Just as Nilekani’s corporate life has come full circle, one hopes his public life will do the same, and that he will once again find himself in the government, solving India-scale problems.