Nandan Infosys to Politics

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Case Study

Nandan Nilekani From Infosys to Politics

Case Author:Manish Kumar Jain, Casestudyinc.com Published in June, 2010

Please note: This case study was compiled from published sources, and is intended for use as a basis for class discussion

and for information purposes only. While care is taken to ensure correctness of the facts, accuracy of information cannot

be guaranteed and the content should not be taken as a substitute for professional advice.

Unauthorized distribution of this document electronically or otherwise is prohibited.

Please [email protected] any queries.


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Table of Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 3

2. Nandan Nilekani - Early Years ....................................................................................... 4

3. Nandan Nilekani - Leading Infosys ................................................................................ 5

4. Nandan Nilekani - Public Life ........................................................................................ 7

5. Nandan Nilekani - Leading UIDAI................................................................................. 7

5.1. Political Challenges .................................................................................................... 9

5.2. Other Indian Challenges ............................................................................................. 9

5.3. Opposition to UIDData Privacy Concerns ............................................................... 9

5.4. Technological Challenges ......................................................................................... 10

5.5. Reaching the rural areasRebranding UID .............................................................. 11

6. The French ExperienceSharing best practices ........................................................... 11

7. Questions for discussion............................................................................................... 22

8. Additional Readings and References ............................................................................ 22

Exhibit 1 - Two Dimensions of software projects ................................................................ 12

Exhibit 2 - InfosysCompany Profile - 2010 ...................................................................... 12

Exhibit 3 - Infosys Timeline ................................................................................................ 13

Exhibit 4 - Infosys Historical Stock Price Chart................................................................... 13

Exhibit 5 - Nandan Nilekani - Achievements and Awards ................................................... 14

Exhibit 6 - Previous unsuccessful efforts by the Government for unique identification ........ 14

Exhibit 7 - Nandan Nilekani at the unveiling of the new UID logo ...................................... 15

Exhibit 8 - Leadership in India ............................................................................................ 15

Exhibit 9 - Features of the UID project ................................................................................ 16

Exhibit 10 - India at a Glance .............................................................................................. 17

Exhibit 11 - India on the World Map ................................................................................... 18

Exhibit 12 - Management Challenges - Private versus Public Sector.................................... 19Exhibit 13 - Maturity levels in the CMM ............................................................................. 19

Exhibit 14 - List of organizations/bodies opposing UID Project across India ....................... 20

Exhibit 15 - National identification number used by the governments of many countries ..... 21


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The service business is very strategic, complex, sophisticated We are using the knowledge of business,

processes, technology, consulting and creating solutions that make global companies more profitable and

competitiveYou dont ask Intel why they produce chips. You dont ask Dell why they dont make operating

systems. In every business, every company chooses the playpen in which they wish to operate.

- Nandan Nilekani, in 2006 then CEO of Infosys in an interview to CyberMedia news .As one of the biggest projects happening in the world, the UID project is generating a lot of excitement.

- Nandan Nilekani, now Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)1

It is welcome news since this is a significant and complex infrastructure project. A person like Nandan can

help bring in lot of new business practices and transform the process. I think the appointment is to do with

leadership, and obviously his technical background helps.

- Som Mittal, President, Nasscom

1. IntroductionIn November 2009, Nandan Nilekani (Nilekani), 54, IT czar, a lead architect of Indias

outsourcing boom and Chairman of Indias Unique Identification Database Authority was

selected for the Legend in Leadership Award. He became the first Indian to receive Yale

University's top honor. (See Exhibit 5 - Nandan Nilekani - Achievements and Awards on page 14)

Around the world, Nilekani is recognized as one of Indias most successful software

entrepreneurs. He co-founded Indias technology bellwether Infosys Technologies2(see

Exhibit 2 - InfosysCompany Profile - 2010on page 12)as a technology start-up in the 1980snow Indias premier company in the IT sector and one of the biggest software exporters from

India. From March 2002 to June 2007, Nilekani was CEO and Managing Director of Infosys

and previously held the posts of the President and Chief Operating Officer. He led Infosys

global delivery model3 with the company's revenues growing from Rs.3,604 crores4 to

Rs.13,893 crores and the headcount scaled up from 10,700 people to over 72,000.

Nilekani always believed India could become the largest and the fastest growing democracy

on the planet, particularly so, with its forays into the information technology sector. In

January 2006, Nilekani became one of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on

the World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board. In 2009, he was invited by the IndianPrime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to head the Government's Unique Identification project

(UID project), which aims to provide identity to a billion citizens. Nilekani was given the

1 Nandan Nilekani | We will issue first set of UIDs by February 2011. (2010, April). Retrieved from Livemint.com:http://www.livemint.com/2010/04/04213257/Nandan-Nilekani--We-will-issu.html?h=B

2 Infosys is a publicly held company offering information technology consulting and software services to Fortune 1000 companies.Infosys was started in 1981, by seven professional entrepreneurs (Nandan Nilekani, S.Gopalakrishnan, K. Dinesh, S.B.Shibulal,N.S.Raghavan, Ashok Arora and Narayana Murthy) with an equity capital of Rs.10,000 (USD 250). By 2001, Infosys was one of the

biggest exporters of software from India. It became the first Indian company to follow the US Generally Accepted AccountingPrinciples (GAAP) disclosure norms. In 1999, Infosys was listed on the NASDAQ.

3 Infosys pioneered the Global Delivery Model (GDM) to ensure the distribution of application and business process lifecycleactivities and resources, while ensuring their integration.

4 1 crore=10 million, Rs=INR=Indian Rupees, 1USD=Rs 44 (approx.)


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rank of a cabinet minister after he resigned as a board member of Infosys. The UID project

was one of the most ambitious projects of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led Indian

government to address citizenship and security concerns. With a unique ID, the Government

could ensure the benefits reached the targeted population of its flagship schemes and that any

gaps in the schemes were removed.(See Exhibit 9 - Features of the UID projecton 16)

Enrollingnearly 1.20 billion residents in India (visiting nearly 240 million households) and dealing

with corruption, while implementing various government programs was a major challenge.

Could Nilekani, a man of technology who was prone to measure software projects in great

detail, successfully lead a government program, a social project with Indias inherent

challenges?

2. Nandan Nilekani - Early YearsI come from an entrepreneurialbackground of looking for opportunities and also frequently being told thatsomething is not possible.

- Nandan Nilekani5.

We were the guys who started Mood Indigo6. And I personally organized two of them. Once you have done

that, I think you know all about management. At least, all that I know about management and leadership I learnt

in Mood Indigo.

- Nandan Nilekani in 20047.

On June 2, 1955 Nilekani was born in Bangalore, Karnataka, South India as the younger son

of Durga and Mohan Rao Nilekani. His father was a private sector employee, a Manager inMinerva Mills, who subscribed to the Fabian Socialist ideology, an ideology that also

influenced Nilekani during his early years. He grew up in a very modest environment with

typical Indian middle class values.

Nilekani was exceptionally brilliant and had good leadership qualities. He graduated from

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay - B.Tech (Electrical Engineering). In 1978, he

joined a Mumbai-based software group Patni Computers where he was interviewed by N R

Narayana Murthy (co-founder of Infosys). In 1981, after three years, Nilekani and his

colleagues at Patni quit the company to form Infosys Technologies Ltd. Nilekani co-founded

Infosys with six colleagues and US $250 in start-up capital. From 1981 to 1987, he managed

the marketing and development efforts of Infosys in the U.S. In 1987, he came back to India

and based himself in Bangalore. (See Exhibit 3 - Infosys Timeline on page 13)

5 http://www.yorku.ca/yfile/archive/index.asp?Article=12616

6 Mood Indigo is the annual cultural festival of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay held in December.

7I learnt leadership at Mood I: Nandan Nilekani. (2004, December 18). Retrieved June 2, 2010, from Rediff.com:http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2004/dec/18moodi.htm


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3. Nandan Nilekani - Leading InfosysThe Global Delivery Model that has been at the heart of our execution is more than just a way of getting work

done offshore. It is a genuine business innovation that delivers a superior value proposition at higher quality

and lower cost. By leveraging global resources and global strengths, it creates a new degree of freedom.

- Nandan Nilekani, President, CEO and Managing Director, Infosys, in 2006 8

In March 2002, Nilekani took over the responsibility as Chief Executive Officer of Infosys

Technologies from the legendary (and co-founder) Narayana Murthy. Nilekani had the tough

job of transforming a $1-billion Indian software company to a truly global corporation. The

story of IT in India was full of time and cost overruns and project cancellations. Multinational

vendors such as IBM and Accenture had even stated that they did not see Indian companies

participating in deals in excess of $100 million9.

Nilekani knew he had to continue to bring a discipline in how things were done - excellence

in execution. He emphasized values like doing things on time, on budget, and using high

quality people. Nilekani also knew that managing a company as a single entity with more

than 25,000 employees (at the time) was difficult. This led to Infosys transforming its

business around specific verticals such as healthcare, retail, and banking. He believed a head

of an organization could give a personal touch by subdividing the business into manageable

smaller entities. This would also lead to creating specialists in industry verticals and not only

a business plan for the company but a business plan for each of these groups with hard

numbers.

Another challenge for Nilekani was leading a multicultural company and establishing aglobal delivery model. At the time, Infosys had more than 600 employees (non-Indian) from

more than 30 nationalities across the world. He had to build the diversity as well as managing

it into the Infosys global delivery model.

In 2004, Nilekani responded to a question on what challenges Infosys faced ahead. He said,

The first is managing scale, the second managing risk, the third managing growth with

differentiation, the fourth, the whole process of becoming more multicultural and diverse and

the fifth is the outsourcing challenge. Lot of these complex issues have to be managed and we

have to navigate through all that.this is a model (the global delivery model) which

leverages on the power of modern technology such as broadband to reengineer value chainsfrom a local activity to a global activity, from a local resource pool to a global resource pool

and local capacity utilization to a global capacity utilization."

Software project management (see Exhibit 1 - Two Dimensions of software projects on page 12) at

Infosys is a highly evolved process and the company successfully executed hundreds of IT

projects. In 2002, Infosys was assessed at level 5 (the highest level) of the CMM Integrated

8 Scripting a Success Story, India Now, January 19, 2006

9 Thiagarajan, K., & Kulkarni, V. (2004, March 21). Enough resilience in the global delivery model Mr Nandan Nilekani, CEO andManaging Director, Infosys Technologies. Retrieved June 03, 2010, from The Hindu:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2004/03/21/stories/2004032100530600.htm


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(CMMI)10 for offshore and onsite operations. It was the first Indian company to do so. In

1999, Infosys had already become the 21st company in the world to achieve a CMM Level 5

certification. (See Exhibit 13 - Maturity levels in the CMMon page 19)

For successive years in 2001 and 2002, Infosys had been adjudged the 'Best Company to

Work For' but had lost this position in the next couple of years. In 2005, under Nilekanis

leadership, Infosys won India's Best Managed Company Award based on a study

conducted by Business Today and A.T. Kearney. Infosys was placed ahead of 13 finalists.

Infosys had around 36,000 employees at the time and it had never missed a target in 48

quarters. It clearly had a planning process that was top-notch. But a humble Nilekani believes

himself to be an accidental entrepreneur. He says, being at the right time, in the right place

and with the right people did the trick for him 11.

Nilekani always felt that India needed a company based on middle class values where ethics,

courtesy, honesty, and fairness were important features, where people were treated as human

capital and were given a chance to participate in management, in ownership. Nilekani and

other founders wanted to create a respected and an admired company, a company that

practiced very ethical standards of business conduct. When Infosys became successful based

on these values, he was proud of the fact that Infosys had not paid bribes, had not done

anything unethical to be in this position. (See Exhibit 8 - Leadership in India on page 15)

(Continued on next page)

10 CMMI is a model released by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), US and is an enhanced version of the Capability MaturityModel that integrates various other frameworks created by SEI. The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is a widely adopted set ofguidelines (framework) for evaluating and improving an organization's software development processes.

11I learnt leadership at Mood I: Nandan Nilekani. (2004, December 18). Retrieved June 2, 2010, from Rediff.com:http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2004/dec/18moodi.htm


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4. Nandan Nilekani - Public LifeIndia has a way of doing business that brings together business leadership with national leadership and

societal leadership. Many heads of business are deeply involved in matters from climate change to child

nutrition, and they find it entirely appropriate and even necessary to make their views on such matters public...

Indian leaders care as much about national purpose as about financial results.

Forbes12

Nilekani has been active in public life. His first exposure to public life came about a decade

ago, when the Chief Minister of Karnataka, invited him to head a body called the Bangalore

Agenda Task Force to oversee public policy issues. Nilekani dedicated his weekends to the

task force. Nilekani also became a member of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC)

and a part of the National Advisory Group on e-governance. He also became a member of the

review committee of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. He took over as

the elected President of NCAER (the independent, applied economics research institute inIndia) in April 2008. Nilekani has also chaired the central governments IT Task Force for

Power.

Nilekani was always a very expressive person and a much sought-after speaker in

international conferences. He had the skill to see the larger picture and communicate ideas

better than most. His famous comment - the world is flat made to New York Times writer

Thomas Friedman led to a bestseller book by the same name. In 2007, he wrote a book titled

Imagining India which received rave reviews. He already had a whole chapter on how

unique identity was a key to many of Indias issues. Perhaps this was what led to the Prime

Ministers call on him to head the identity project. Nilekani was very happy with the

appointment as it would allow him to bring in change at a national level where he could

contribute as a change agent with his skill sets as a technocrat.

5. Nandan Nilekani - Leading UIDAII am generally very articulate but this is not the day or place where I can be articulate. I've been wrapped up

in Infosys for 28 years. My only identity is Infosys. I will be going to lead a programme to give identity to every

Indian. But today I am losing my identity But, in my new role, I'm supposed to work with 600 government

departments knowing fully well that no two government departments get along with one other.

- Nandan Nilekani, making a speech on his last day at InfosysFor 30 years, Nilekani was focused on selling Infosys to leading companies globally. Leaving

Infosys was a tough call. The easier option for him could have easily been continuing on at

Infosys till the retirement age of 60. However, he chose to take up a role in public service. He

had to sell the concept of a national identity program to the grassroots politicians and

bureaucrats. He was now leading Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) as the

12 Cappelli, P., Singh, H., Singh, J., & Useem, M. (2010, April 14). The India Way Of Doing Business . Retrieved June 03, 2010, fromForbes: http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/14/india-business-way-leadership-citizenship-useem.html?boxes=leadershipchannellatest


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Chairman. His past success with Infosys in no way guaranteed automatic success in this

unique and challenging program. (See Exhibit 12 - Management Challenges - Private versus Public

Sectoron page 19)But, Nilekani was dedicated to the new challenge splitting his time between

Delhi (UIDAI's official headquarters) and Bangalore (his residence and where UIDAI's

technical team was based). In about four months he met 12 Chief Ministers of different statesto explain in detail about the UID project. He needed their support in enrolling people into

the program. Nilekani's excellent public relations skills and his diplomacy would be of

immense use here.

In between all this he had to take care of other assignments such as a workshop at the

National Law School in Bangalore where he brainstormed with a group of legal experts on

how to create the legal framework for the UIDAI, a workshop organized by the Indian

Institute of Advanced Studies at Shimla where he met a bunch of sociologists, NGOs and

political scientists to evangelize the UID project.

Nandan Nilekani in an interview with the Financial Express

You have been a government employee for nearly a year now. What has been your

experience so far vis a vis the corporate world, in terms of the style of working?

One major thing that I have found is that in government you have to take everyone along with

you if you want ideas to have even a chance of being successful. In the corporate sector, you

have a board which you need to convince and if you carry a numerical majority, everyone hasto fall in line.

In government the style is more consensual, also of course because of the scale of things. I

have had meetings with a huge number of people and have had a great deal of cooperation

from everyone, from the Prime Minister to chief ministers and RBI. Civil society groups, which

are dispersed and diffused also need to be taken along. It takes a while to get this consensus

together, but ones concepts are clearer because of that.

Excerpted from source

Nistula Hebbar. (2010, May 10). UID model is only as good as its application. Retrieved June 03, 2010, from

Financial Express: http://www.financialexpress.com/printer/news/616356/

(Continued on next page)


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5.1. Political ChallengesAccording to studies from Harvard Business School and the World Bank, corruption13

siphons as much as 80% of the funds meant for India's poor14. The UID program aimed to

bring masses of India's poor into the formal economy, where they could gain access togovernmental finance schemes and social services. This would translate into new

accountability to government bureaucracy. A unique ID could authenticate that goods and

money make their way from local administrators to the people. Naturally, Nilekani had to

encounter political challenges against powerful entrenched interests which included corrupt

contractors and even government employees who usually misused the funds. (See Exhibit 6 -Previous unsuccessful efforts by the Indian Government for unique identification on page 14)

5.2. Other Indian Challenges There are 75 million homeless, without birth certificates and without any identity There are 600,000 villages in Indiaand only 6% have bank branches. (See Exhibit 10

and 11 on page 17)

Power outages are a key factor limiting the access and utility of computers in ruralareas.

India has poor infrastructure, low literacy levels for many people, and laborinflexibilities.

India ranks 50th in the world in terms of productivity growth.

5.3. Opposition to UID Data Privacy Concerns

It was always clear that the unique identification scheme (UID) was going to gather opposition as it

progressed. Those voices are crystallizing. The resistance comes from three domains. First, from civil

society activists who feel that unique biometric identities will turn India into an Orwellian nightmare.

Two, from bureaucratic infighting: senior civil servants resent the fact that an outsider has been brought

in for a project thatought to have been their baby. Finally, from low-level politicians and officials who

see UID as a dangerous idea that will only lead to one destination: direct cash transfers, cutting them out

of the loot.

Excerpted from source

Give the UID project a chance. (2010, January 12). Retrieved June 03, 2010, from Livemint.com:

http://www.livemint.com/2010/01/11212510/Give-the-UID-project-a-chance.html

Countries like Australia, UK, and the U.S. have found their unique identification projects

impracticable due to the probability of abuse and the strong public opposition. In India,

13 According to global corruption watchdog Transparency International's latest survey, India is perceived as a highly corrupt nationin the world ranked 84 among 180 countries on the integrity score.

14 Mehul Srivastava, Steve Hamm. (2009, July 16). The Man Behind India's ID Card Program . Retrieved June 03, 2010, fromBusinessWeek: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_30/b4140056501197.htm


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several civil society groups like Centre for Internet Society (CIS), the Peoples Union for

Civil Liberties (PUCL), Aadhar Watch Initiative among others, opposed the UID for what

they see as a another source data vulnerability15. Some other groups felt that there was no

wide public discussion on the feasibility or desirability of the project. There was also

opposition to entrepreneurs being appointed as non-politicians with cabinet rank

16

.Opposition groups demanded immediate scrapping of the UID project including scrutiny of

all transactions, increased transparency with contracts and de-linking of the project with the

ongoing Census. (See Exhibit 7 - Nandan Nilekani at the unveiling of the new UID logo on page 19)

Nilekani acknowledged the concerns that the privacy of data could be compromised were

legitimate but also felt that design of the UID program (e.g. data encryption) would prevent

this from happening. In May 2010, he also admitted that there was a need for a larger debate

on protection of privacy in the country. To prevent the potential abuse of the planned UID

database on Indian citizens, Nilekani announced that the UIDAI would soon come out with a

set of guidelines, not just for its own software, but also for all government departmentsholding sensitive personal information in their databases.

5.4. Technological ChallengesIndia is an extremely complex country, and it requires a lot of localizationIt was primarily a courtesy

meeting where we also did inquire if Yahoo! could be of any help in the area of cloud (metaphor for the

internet) technologies. We are in the business of managing data. We process around 500 billion emails every

month, so we wondered if we could assist in the area of managing the databases as India tries to implement the

Unique Identity (UID) project.

- Carol Bartz, CEO of Yahoo! Inc. on her first visit to India and meeting the Indian Prime Minister17

Major global companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, Cisco and many others have expressed

interest in helping the government and Nilekani with the UID project. The UID involves

maintaining a huge database and handling vast amount of data besides online authentication.

Hardware challenges include finding right vendors for computing power, storage vendors and

systems integration challenges.

Another technical challenge is with biometric datafingerprints and iris scan. How to handle

cases where there is erosion of fingerprints of people who are involved in heavy physical

labor (especially in rural India) or eye sight being affected over a period of time. To address

this challenge, a biometrics committee was set up.

15 The UID would source data from multiple sources various government agencies, including the income tax department, banks,

the public distribution system and various state governments.

16Citizens against UID project Aadhaar. (2010, April 29). Retrieved June 15, 2010, from Mizoram Express:http://mizoramexpress.com/index.php/2010/04/citizens-against-uid/

17 Leslie D'Monte. (2009, November 12). Yahoo! sets eyes on India's UID project. Retrieved June 04, 2010, from Business Standard:http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/yahoo-sets-eyesindia%5Cs-uid-project/376108/


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5.5. Reaching the rural areas Rebranding UIDWe wanted a name with national appeal, was easy to remember and speak and applied to different languages

- Nandan Nilekani

Many analysts felt that a name like UID would not appeal to a majority of its target audience

the marginalized people who will get a foolproof identity to claim various social sector

scheme incentives. They might have to forgo a days income to travel and get enrolled. To

address this, the Finance Commission made a grant of about Rs 2,980 crore (approx. USD

637.71 million) for the incentive for getting registered and people below the poverty line

would get Rs 100 each.

The project was renamed Aadhar (in Hindi the national language and meaning foundation

or depend or support) with a new logo - the halo of the Sun on the imprint of a thumb. The

name Aadhaar would also work across all regional languages too. (See Exhibit 7 on page12) A majority of the population in rural India understood the visual and the audio much

more than written words. After studying what works with rural Indian population e.g. other

mass public change initiatives like polio awareness, Nilekani announced that the project

would be marketed through media, advertisements, word of mouth, village posters among

others.

6. The French Experience Sharing best practicesPersonal Identity Number system began in France in 1941 with a primary objective to organize recruitment ofmen in the army and has subsequently evolved as an important tool of social security among other uses.

- Michel Villac, French government expert on Unique Number systems.18Many countries have issued numbers to their citizens for identification, most notably the

Social Security Number by the U.S. (which was originally issued for social security benefits).

(See Exhibit 15 - National identification number used by the governments of many countries on page 21)

Recently, France launched a Unique Social Security Number project successfully. France

offered to help India with its experience in implementing the project. The French Embassy

and Smartcard Forum of India (SCAFI) organized an initiative, the Unique Identity

Workshop to share the French experience in Unique Identification programs with key

stakeholders of India's UID project.

18France offers expertise for India's UID project. (2010, April 12). Retrieved June 15, 2010, from The Times of India:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5788345.cms


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Exhibit 1 - Two Dimensions of software projects

Exhibit 2 - Infosys Company Profile - 2010

Company name Infosys

NASDAQ INFY

Sector Technical and systems software

Location Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Website www.infosys.com

Market cap ~$ 32.43 billion

Revenue $ 4.8 billion

Employees 109000

Revenue / employee $ 42470

Net income $ 1.285 billion

Shares outstanding 570.7 million

Annual earnings / share $ 2.26

P/E ratio 25.15

(Source Infosys Annual Report Fiscal 2010 and ADR filings)

Software

Projects

Engineering

Building thesystem

How to design,test, code, etc.

Project Management

Planning andcontrolling the

engineeringactivities

Meet project goals forcost, schedule, and

quality


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Exhibit 3 - Infosys Timeline

Year Event

1981 Infosys was founded

1992 Infosys became a public limited company

1993 Received ISO 9001 certification

1999 First Indian company to get listed on NASDAQ

1999 Achieved SEI-CMM Level 5

2001 Crossed $ 400 million

2002 Crossed $ 500 million

2004 74thamong the Worlds Top 100 InfoTech comp byBusiness Week

2004 Reached the $ 1 billion milestone

2006 Reached the $ 2 billion milestone with 527,15employees

Exhibit 4 - Infosys Historical Stock Price Chart


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Exhibit 5 - Nandan Nilekani - Achievements and Awards

Year Award/Achievement

1988 Co-founded Indias National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM)

2002 Became the Chief Executive Officer of Infosys

2003 Worlds most respected business leaders, a global survey by Financial Times andPricewaterhouseCoopers

2004 Fortune magazine named him one of Asias Power 25 The Most Powerful People in Businessin Asia

2005 The Joseph Schumpeter Prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences andpolitics.

2006 Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian honors awarded by the Government of India

2006 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME magazine

2006 Business Leader of the Year by Forbes Asia

2006 Became one of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the World Economic

Forum Foundation Board.2007 Forbes Businessman of the Year for Asia

2009 Time magazine placed Nilekani in the Time 100 list of 'World's Most Influential People'

2009 A speaker at the prestigious TED conference where he talked about his ideas for India's future

2009 'Legend in Leadership Award' by the Yale University

Exhibit 6 - Previous unsuccessful efforts by the Indian Government for unique identification

Voter ID Card

Almost a decade ago, the Indian government had issued voter ID cards.

The ID card featured a grainy black and white photograph of the voter with

address and a Voter ID number. The program though still present in the system

was prone to corruption as anyone could print and laminate a card. One could

even buy the ID cards on the black market to get food rations and residency

permits and perhaps even voting rights.

PAN Card

The income tax department issues a taxpayer ID, called the PAN card.

Only a fraction of Indias population with jobs/businesses in the organized

sector or bank savings can get one. One can buy a fake card easily in the black

market.

Ration Card

Ration cards have been an important part of the Public Distribution

System (PDS) in India. However, with rampant corruption in India, a ration card

can be bought for as low as Rs. 500(15 US$) in the black market.


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Exhibit 7 - Nandan Nilekani at the unveiling of the new UID logo

(Source: Photo by R.V. Moorthy19, The Hindu dated April 26, 2010)

Exhibit 8 - Leadership in India

19http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article410397.ece


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Exhibit 10 - India at a Glance

Area 3.287x10^6 square kilometers(world rank: 7th)

Population 1.18 billion people(world rank: 2nd)

Population density 397 people per square kilometer(world rank: 28th)

Population growth 1.49% per year(world rank: 95th)

Life expectancy 69.9 years(world rank: 149th)

Median age 25.3 years(world rank: 132nd)

Literacy fraction 61%

GDP $1.254 trillion per year(world rank: 13th)

GDP at parity $3.304 trillion per year (2008)(world rank: 4th)

Real GDP $1.254 trillion per year(price-adjusted to year-2008 USdollars)(world rank: 12th)

GDP per capita $ 1060 per person per year (2008)(world rank: 186th)

GDP real growth 7.288% per year(world rank: 36th)

Inflation rate 7.642% per year(world rank: 104th)

Unemployment rate 9.1% (2008)(world rank: 90th)

(Source: Wolfram Alpha)


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Exhibit 11 - India on the World Map

States in India - There are 28 states and 7 Union territories in thecountry.

Districts - There are 626 Districts in India administered by theirrespective State/UT Government.

Languages - The Constitution of India has recognized 22 differentlanguages. There are hundreds of dialects

National Portal of India -http://india.gov.in/
http://india.gov.in/default.phphttp://india.gov.in/default.phphttp://india.gov.in/default.phphttp://india.gov.in/default.php


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Exhibit 12 - Management Challenges - Private versus Public Sector

Issue Corporate/Private Sector Government/Public Sector

Budget Tight Budgets but Flexibledecisions

Budgets planned much inadvance and inflexible

Recruitment Quick hiring depending onproject needs

Slow

Firing Quick. Non-performers arelaid off or given the pink slip

Slow and requires excessivedocumentation

Bureaucracy Corporate bureaucracies tendto be less prevalent

Sheer size and job securityfoster strong bureaucraticattitudes and resistance tochange

Procurement Fast and as per requirements Slow and Lengthy procedures

Corruption Less Tends to be more

Productivity Better Less. Laid-back employeescommon

Project

delivery

Meets expectations Project delays/overrunscommon

Cost Cutting Possible with specific projectcuts

Not possible in many cases

Visibility Anonymity, isolation fromthe media

High visibility, pursued bythe media

Rewards Rewards for achievementExcess funds distributed asa bonus or salary increase

Punishment for failure

Leadership

continuity

Long-term Limited by elections andGovernment change

Objectives Measured by results/profits Measured by Process

(Adapted from various sources)

Exhibit 13 - Maturity levels in the CMM

Level 1 A project is executed in a manner that the team and project manager see fit

Level 2 - Repeatable

level

Established project management practices are employed, although

organization-wide processes may not existLevel 3 - Defined level Organization-wide processes have been defined and are regularly followed

Level 4 - Managed level Quantitative understanding of the process capability makes it possible toquantitatively predict and control the process performance on a project

Level 5 - Optimizinglevel

The process capability is improved in a controlled manner and theimprovement is evaluated quantitatively

(Source - Managing Software Projects: The Infosys Model by By Pankaj Jalote)


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Exhibit 14 - List of organizations/bodies opposing UID Project across India

Moving Republic, Bangalore

Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore

Citizens Action Forum, Bangalore

PUCL, Karnataka

Slum JanandolanaAlternative Law Forum, Bangalore

Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF)

PEACE, New Delhi

Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, Badvani(MP)

South Indian Cell for Human Rights Education &

Monitoring (SICHREM), Bangalore

Posco Prathirodh Sangram Samithi, Orissa

Adivasi Mulvasi Astitva Raksha Manch, Jharkhand

Himalaya Niti Abhiyan, Himachal Pradesh

National Hawkers Federation

Kerala Swathanthra Matsya Thozhilali Federation(KSMTF)

Nagpur Municipal Corporation Employees Union

Nadi Ghati Morcha, Chhattisgarh

Peoples Solidarity Concerns- Bangalore

Janvikas, Orissa

Other Media Communications, Bangalore

Visual search, Bangalore

Theeradesa MahilaVedi, Kerala

National Coastal Womens Movement, Chennai

Alliance of womens right in Disaster(ANWORD),

Chennai

Kerala Tourism watch

Dalit Womens Forum, Andhra Pradesh

Centre for Education and Documentation, Mumbai

IPTA (Bihar)

EKTA (commitee for communal amity), MumbaiEQATIONS, Bangalore

Openspace, Bangalore

Rajadhari Basti Uriyan Parishad, Orissa

Chhattisgarh Kisan Mazdoor Vikas Kendra

Asangatit karmakar Shramik Union, UP

Munsikhan Mawat vikas Community Foundation,

Alwar, Rajasthan

Pondichery Slum Dwellers Federation

Himpravesh, solar, Himachal Pradesh

Chhattisgarh Action Reserch Team (CART), Raipur

ViBGYOR Film Collective, KeralaAdivasi, Sarumgi Vikas Sangh, Gujarat

Samata, Orissa

Society for Culture & Development, Kerala

Youth Initiative for Leadership Training, Kerala

Patabhedam Magazine, Calicut, Kerala

Global Alternate Information Applications(GAIA),

Thrissur, Kerala

Kabani The Other Direction, Kerala

Pedestrian Pictures, Bangalore

Just Peace Foundation, Manipur

Concern, IISc, Bangalore

(Source:Citizens against UID project Aadhaar. (2010, April 29). Retrieved June 15, 2010, from Mizoram Express:http://mizoramexpress.com/index.php/2010/04/citizens-against-uid/)


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21 Nandan NilekaniFrom Infosys to Politics

Exhibit 15 - National identification number used by the governments of many countries

Country Unique ID Description Source

Australia Australia Card(Proposed)

In Australia there is no universal identifying number forindividuals. ... The Australia Card proposal would havecreated a universal number for Australian ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identification_number

China ID number has 18digits and is in theformatRRRRRRYYYYMMDDSSSC

The Republic of China National Identification Card is anidentity document ... Possession of the Identification Cardalong with the Republic China Passport ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Identification_Card_(Republic_of_China)

France INSEE code In France, the INSEE code is used as a social insurancenumber, a national identification number, for taxationpurposes, for employment, etc. ...


Germany The West Germangovernment intendedto create a 12-digitpersonalidentificationnumber(Personenkennzeichen, PKZ)

In Germany, there is no national identification numberlegalized. ... In East Germany, a similar system namedPersonenkennzahl (PKZ) was set up in 1970 and ...


South

Africa

Identity DocumentThe ID number is a13-digit number ofthe formYYMMDDGSSSCAZ.

In the Republic of South Africa, every citizen can applyfor an Identity ... In contrast to other countries the SouthAfrican ID number is not unique in its ...


UK A National Insurancenumber, generallycalled an NI Number(NINO), is used toadminister statebenefits and get jobs

National Identity Cards for UK nationals becameavailable to people resident ...... "Johnson reveals IDregister linked to NI numbers". Theregister.co.uk. ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identity_card_(United_Kingdom)

United

States of

America

Social SecurityNumber

There is no true national identity cards in the UnitedStates of America, in the sense that there is no federalagency with nationwide jurisdiction that ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_documents_in_the_United_States

(Source: Adapted fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identification_number)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identification_numberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identification_numberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identification_numberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identification_number


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22 Nandan NilekaniFrom Infosys to Politics

7. Questions for discussion1. Which leadership theory would be most helpful in guidingNilekanis transition from

private to public sector leadership? Explain.

2. What are the potential opportunities and consequences of accepting or rejecting Francesexpertise with the UID project?

3. Outline a strategy for calming the fears of the groups in opposition to the UID project.

8.Additional Readings and References

1.

Official Website of UIDAI: http://uidai.gov.in/

2. Official Website of Infosys: http://www.infosys.com3. National identification number, From Wikipedia:


4. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI):http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Unique-Identification-Authority-of-India-

UIDAI/219687107766

5. Nandan Nilekanis BlogImagining India Ideas for the next century:http://imaginingindia.com/blog/

6. Nandan Nilekani's ideas for India's future | Video on TED.com. (2009, May). Retrieved June 15, 2010,from http://www.ted.com/talks/nandan_nilekani_s_ideas_for_india_s_future.html

7. Nilekani, N. (2010, January). Infrastructure, Subsidies, and the UID. Retrieved June 15, 2010, fromRITES Journal:http://www.rites.com/rites-journal-2010/PDF/Nandan_Nilekani.pdf

8. Sibal, U. (2010, April 27). Video Interview Nandan Nilekani on Indias UID project: Retrieved June 15,2010, from http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2010/04/27/interview-nandan-nilekani-on-indias-uid-

project/
http://www.rites.com/rites-journal-2010/PDF/Nandan_Nilekani.pdfhttp://www.rites.com/rites-journal-2010/PDF/Nandan_Nilekani.pdfhttp://www.rites.com/rites-journal-2010/PDF/Nandan_Nilekani.pdfhttp://www.rites.com/rites-journal-2010/PDF/Nandan_Nilekani.pdf

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