Mr. Nandan Nilekani-Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

Mr. Nandan Nilekani is Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), in the capacity of a Union Cabinet minister. He is responsible for leading the ‘Aadhar’ initiative, which aims at providing a unique identification number to 1.2 billion Indians. He was most recently the co-chairman of the Board of Directors of Infosys Technologies, which he co-founded in 1981.He served as a director on the company’s board since its inception until July 2009.
Mr Nilekani co-founded India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) as well as the Bangalore chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and President,National Council for Applied Economics Research (NCAER).

Mr. Nilekani, who completed his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, was named the Corporate Citizen of the Year at the Asia Business Leaders Award (2004), organised by CNBC.In 2005, he received the Joseph Schumpeter Prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics. In 2006, he was awarded India’s third-highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan award, and was also named the Businessman of the Year by Forbes Asia.