From Rs 200 to 7,700 crore, self-made Nandan Nilekani an inspiration for many
A day before filing his nomination for the Lok Sabha elections, former UIDAI chief Nandan Nilekani, who is also the co-founder of Infosys, alongwith his wife Rohini Nilekani on Thursday disclosed details of his assets. "I started out with Rs 200 in my pocket, when I graduated from IIT; we founded Infosys with Rs 10,000," Nandan said.
Today, because of the success of a company built from scratch, Nandan and Rohini have assets worth Rs 7,700 crore.
"Most of our wealth, almost 80 per cent remains in Infosys shares," Nandan said, who owns 1.45 per cent while Rohini owns 1.3 per cent of Infosys. "This wealth was created while Infosys brought lakhs of jobs to Bengaluru. The company also shared a lot of wealth with our employees through ESOPs," he said.
"The biggest thing the Infosys money brought me is the freedom to do what I want. And what I want, is to give millions more the opportunities I had," Nandan said.
The Infosys story, Nandan believes, inspired a generation of young Indians to start something on their own, to take risks that created wealth for the country, as well as millions of new jobs.
Since 1999, Rohini and Nandan have donated almost Rs 400 crore of their wealth to various causes and charities. "I have worked in the social sector for more than 15 years now and when I got some money through the sale of Infosys shares, I was able to spend more on my philanthropy," Rohini said.
Nandan and Rohini have prioritided some key areas in their philanthropy - water, governance, education."I am proud of the fact that my wealth is completely transparent," Nandan said while adding, "I haven't made any of my money illegally, or hid it in investments outside the country. Nothing is hidden in someone else's bank account. It is all completely transparent, and tax-paid."
While taking about her philanthropy, Rohini said, "At the foundation I set up, called Arghyam, which means "offering" in Sanskrit, we focus on water and sanitation. If we do not manage our water resources better, we will face a terrible crisis."
"Through Arghyam, we have made grants in 22 states of India, supporting ideas, individuals and institutions all around the country that are doing wonderful work to improve access to water," she added.
"It is important to both dream big and do big," Nandan says, about their philanthropy work. "Every Indian you ask will have a dream for India, their vision for what the country should be. Each of us should do what we can, with what we have, to make a difference, and get us a little closer to what we envision," he added.
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