Nandan Nilekani Quotes

Slowly, ideas lead to ideology, lead to policies that lead to actions.

My parents were concerned that I would not get good schooling, so they put me up in my uncle's house in Dharwad, and I spent about six years there. So at a very young age, I was away from my parents. I developed an amount of independence and learned to stand on my own feet.

We took Infosys public. That was a nonstop three-week global roadshow.

I don't decide my politics based on the flavour of the month.

I scribbled four words down in my notebook: 'The world is flat.

Privacy is a vast subject. Also, remember that privacy and convenience is always a trade-off. When you open a bank account and want to borrow some money, and you want to get a very cheap loan, you'll share all details of your assets because you want them to give you a low interest rate.

I think politics is the biggest lever of change in India.

It's because Gandhi believed in villages and because the British ruled from the cities; therefore, Nehru thought of New Delhi as an un-Indian city.

I think the ideology of the Congress is closest to mine. Congress is a party where I should be. I have joined politics to bring change in society. The Congress gave me a chance with the Aadhaar project. It's a party that will allow me to bring change.

When India got independence, entrepreneurs were seen as a bad lot, as people who would exploit.

My transactions are above board: I do not have money deposited in other accounts and have transparently declared all assets. My real wealth is, however, my experience as cofounder of Infosys and as Aadhar Chairman, which gave away 60,000 crore identity cards to people of India as promised.

The biggest thing the money Infosys brought me is the freedom to do what I want. And what I want is to give millions more the opportunities I had.

Bangalore needs a honest, passionate and hard-working MP, and I will be that MP.

Indian higher education is completely regulated. It's very difficult to start a private university. It's very difficult for a foreign university to come to India. As a result of that, our higher education is simply not keeping pace with India's demands. That is leading to a lot of problems which we need to address.

I am not in politics to make more money.

You don't choose a party because it's the flavour of the month. I feel I will be able to work under a political system. I feel if people like me don't enter politics to bring change, who will?

Bangalore now wants a person who doesn't only play politics. Bangalore needs a problem solver, and I am a problem solver. I will be the bridge between Bangalore and the Centre.

Infosys was going to be a different type of company. It was going to be very ethically run, meritocratic, quality-conscious, transparent. People didn't confuse the personal with the corporate.

My wife, Rohini, visits a lot of government schools as part of her NGO reach-out. One of the questions she most likes to ask the kids is what they would like to be when they grow up. The answers are varied--'engineer,' 'teacher,' 'policeman' and, increasingly, 'computer' [sic]. But even in the rural schools, one aspiration that they never express is 'farmer