In Conversation With Nandan Nilekani Part-1
By kamla bhatt • Apr 16th, 2012Category: Bangalore, Books and Authors, Business & Tech, Featured, Ideas, San Francisco/Silicon Valley
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Nandan Nilekani is the co-founder and former head of Infosys. This is the company that put Bangalore on the global map. New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman credits Nandan for coining that famous phrase The World Is Flat, which became the title of his book.
Banglaore-based Infosys is one of the best Indian success stories. Founded during the “License Raj” phase, the founders persisted and grew their company from a small entity to a huge, global IT powerhouse.
In 2009 Nandan left Infosys and joined the Government of India when Prime Minister Singh appointed him to a cabinet level position. He currently heads the Unique Identification Authority of India.
In the middle of his hectic life, Nandan carved out time to write his book Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation. The book was published in March 2009 in the US, and I caught up with him in Silicon Valley while he was on an extended book tour.
In Part-1 of the interview Nandan talks about his appearance in Jon Stewart’s show, the structure and essence of his book, the challenges facing a new and emerging India, entrepreneurship and the startup culture in India.
You can listen to Part-2 of the interview here.
Here is a short video clip interview with Nandan.
Photo credit: World Economic Forum
Kamla Bhatt is the host and producer of an Internet Radio show where listeners can find stories about the new and emerging India and the global Indian community. As a pioneer of 'internet radio' format in India Kamla started her first show News about India, followed by TalkNewsIndia in 2005. In 2006 she premiered her new show: The Kamla Bhatt Show: Life, People and Ideas. 
