Category IT Business Tycoons

    Nandan Nilekani is an Indian entrepreneur known for two reasons-as the co-founder of Infosys, and as the former chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

Born on June 2nd,             1955 in Bangalore, Nandan Nilekani was noted as a promising student since the beginning. After his school education in Dharwad, Nilekani joined the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay where he completed a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.

        Nilekani’s career began at Patni Computer Systems, where he met N.R. Narayana Murthy. In three years, he left the company with six others, and started Infosys. For two decades, he served as the managing director, president and the chief operating officer. In 2002, Nilekani became the CEO of the company, and worked till 2007. After that, he served as the co-chairman of the company’s board of directors.

        In 2009, Nilekani’s life took a different turn after he became the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a cabinet-ranking position. He was responsible for implementing the Unique Identity Card (Aadhar card) project in the country, that later became the biggest social project on the planet.

        His work has won Nilekani many awards including the NDTV Indian of the Year’s Transformational Idea of the Year Award in 2011, the Joseph Schumpeter Prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics and the Legend in Leadership Award by the Yale University.

       In 2009, TIME magazine named him in the list of ‘World’s Most Influential People’.

           Senapathy Gopalakrishnan or Kris Gopalakrishnan is a co-founder and the executive vice chairman of Infosys, the global IT service providing firm.

            Born on April 5th, 1955 in Trivandrum, Kris did his schooling in the Government Model Boys HSS, Thycaud. After graduation, he joined the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and obtained an M. Sc in physics and M. Tech in computer science. His career began at Patni Computers, Mumbai, where he met N.R. Narayana Moorthy, Nandan Nilekani and other founders of Infosys.

Continue reading “Why is Kris Gopalakrishnan an icon in the Indian IT sector?”

           Ajit Balakrishnan is an entrepreneur and the founder of Rediff.com, hailing from Kerala. He is currently the chairman of the successful internet company.

            Born in Kannur, Balakrishnan completed his graduation from the University of Kerala, and a Post Graduate diploma in management with a master in business studies from IIM Calcutta. It is said that Balakrishnan was a huge fan of football, and aspired to be a footballer in his childhood. But of course, he treaded a different path.

             At the age of 22, he started his first business venture, Re-diffusion. It is now known as Re-diffusion DY&R (Dentsu Young & Rubicam). In 1995, Balakrishnan founded the Rediff.com, a web portal for information, news, entertainment and shopping. The next year, the site became the first website domain name registered in the country. 

             Other than at Rediff.com, Ajit Balakrishnan has served top posts in various organizations and governmental bodies. He is also known to the world as an established writer.

             As we saw, Balakrishnan joined the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta in the start of the 1970s to do a post graduate diploma course in management with a master in business studies. Today, he is the chairman of the board of governors at the reputed institution. He has also served as the chairman to the Working Group of Internet Governance and Proliferation that comes under the Ministry of Information Technology, Government of India.

            Besides being an entrepreneur and an inspiring patron, Ajit Balakrishnan is also an established writer. He writes columns in the Business Standard, and is the author of the book titled ‘The Wave Rider’. He has also co-authored a research paper with Alkesh Patel. 

Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda or Sam Pitroda is one name without which the history of Indian IT and telecom sector remains incomplete. For his efforts in taking the country to the global map, Pitroda was rightly named the father of India’s communication revolution.

           Sam Pitroda was born on May 4th, 1942 at Titlagarh, Odisha. After completing master’s degree in physics and electronics from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara, Pitroda moved to the US and obtained masters in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago.

           For the next two decades, Pitroda was fully involved in technology research. In 1974, he started a digital switching company called Wescom Switching. Thereafter, he made several inventions and won patents. In 1975, he invented the electronic diary, and became a pioneer of handheld computing. In 1983 he designed Compu-cards, a computer-themed card game. The following year Pitroda returned to India, and founded the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT).

           Pitroda is also credited to have democratized the telecom industry in India, by introducing public call offices (PCO) throughout the country, thereby making calls accessible and affordable to all. Till date, Pitroda has won more than 100 patents in his name.