Nilekani bids adieu to Infosys

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Bangalore, July 9

The dark overcast Bangalore sky opened up in a burst of shower on Thursday evening adding a touch of divine blessings to an emotionally charged event at the Infosys Campus as the company bid farewell to one of its founder and co-chairman, Mr Nandan Nilekani, who has moved on to take up a Government assignment.

The mood at the ceremony at the company's corporate headquarters, where the founding team, board members and several Infoscions had gathered, was one of fond reminiscences as those present spoke of Mr Nilekani as they knew him.

Mr Nilekani recently quit as co-chairman of the company after he was invited by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to head the Government's Unique Identification Card project, which aims to provide identity cards to citizens.

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"I will be parting with a colleague whom I have known for more than 30 years," Mr S. Gopalakrishnan, CEO, Infosys , had told Business Line on the day Mr Nilekani announced his resignation. As expected, on Mr Nilekani's last day in the company, Mr N. R. Narayana Murthy and other founders shared their personal memories and spoke about their experiences about how they created a company as big as Infosys.

Besides board members such as Mr Mohandas Pai and Mr Deepak Satwalekar, an young Infoscian who had worked with Mr Nilekani also spoke about his experiences. Mr Nilekani's mother, wife - Rohini, daughter and son were present on the occasion, where the founders and their family members took photographs together.

The journey together began in 1978, even before Infosys was formed, when Mr Nilekani joined Patni Computers after graduating from IIT Bombay and began working under Mr Narayana Murthy. Three years later, in 1981, Infosys was born under the leadership of Mr Murthy and the other co-founders. The team worked hard to build Infosys through the 1980s and the 1990s.

Mr Nilekani was CEO and Managing Director of Infosys from March 2002 to June 2007, and previously held the posts of the President and Chief Operating Officer. Under Mr Nilekani's leadership, Infosys' global delivery model became mainstream and the company's revenues grew from Rs 3,604 crore to Rs 13,893 crore and the headcount scaled up from 10,700 people to over 72,000.

In January 2006, Mr Nilekani became one of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board.

Taken from Business Line

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