Nandan Nilekani

Sukumar Ranganathan — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:23:00 GMT

News that Nandan Nilekani has been appointed chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India doesn't come as a surprise to me because:

1. It was scooped by Indian Express.

2. It has been evident to anyone following Nandan's progress over the past decade that he would end up in public office, sooner than later.

It also seems apt that he has ended up as the head of an organisation that will see the implementation of India's much-touted national ID card project. Part of a chapter of Nandan's book, Imagining India, is on this very subject. It is clearly an issue he has studied.

I am not aware when Nandan or his wife Rohini -- one of the clearest thinkers I have met on the subject of philanthrophy; she write a column for Mint -- acquired the public service mindset. In Nandan's case, however, it seems to have blossomed in the early part of this decade when, along with a bunch of like-minded individuals, he was part of the Bangalore Agenda Task Force that sought to address Bangalore's infrastructural and civic problems. BATF's success was cut short by the electoral defeat of the SM Krishna-led Congress government.

Still, Nandan and some of the others from BATF parlayed their leanings from the experience to lobby the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Government that came to power in 2004 to launch the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Ramesh Ramanathan, another of BATF's members, was appointed technical advisor of the mission, a position he continue to occupy. Ramesh is also a columnist for Mint.

By then, Nandan had become more influential than Infosys' chairman N R Narayana Murthy. One reason for this could be Nandan's consummate public relations skills and his diplomacy (Even when he is very irrirated, as he once was when I called him the first India bore because he was going on and on about the India story, he rarely shows it). He still had a day job, however, as Infosys' CEO.

At Infosys, Nandan has always been the big picture man, as opposed to Murthy who believes that God is in the details (and that excellence in execution is everything). His hands-off leadership style seemed to be just what Infosys needed in the first half of this decade when Indian IT services companies were looking to strategically differentiate themselves from each other.

Nandan has also always been a very articulate person. His ability to see the big picture and articulate ideas better than most were most visibly demonstrated in the by-now famous world--s-flat comment he made to NYT writer Thomas Friedman that resulted in the enpnymous bestseller. The book made Nandan a star. He became a sought-after speaker in international conferences.

In 2007, Nandan decided to step back from actively managing Infosys to write a book, Imagining India. The book came out last year and a US edition was released this year. It received rave reviews from most publications -- except Mint. Mint's Anil Padmanabhan, who reviewed the book, said he found Nandan in person far more intellectually stimualting than Nandan in print, one reason for his not-so-favourable review.

Soon after the book was released, a common friend from Bangalore called up and claimed that it was only a matter of time before Nandan would be tapped for public office. There were rumours earlier this month about his induction into the Planning Commission (One of Mint's reporters insists that he was sounded out but declined). Now comes the news of his appointment.

"Big task," Nandan messaged back when I sent him a text message after the news broke.

That it is.

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A Daily Download : Imagining India

Nandan Nilekani