The Photo is of Mr. Nandan Nilekani, MD & CEO, Infosys
The Photo is of Mr.NR Narayan Murthy, Co-founder of Infosys
As all of you know that Mr.nandan Nilekani is the CEO & MD of Infosys, India’s largest software Company and the fourth largest Company of India according to Market Capitalization after Reliance, ONGC & NTPC.
Here are few facts to know about Mr. Nandan Nilekani, Mr. NR Narayan Murthy, The Co-founder of Infosys and the History of Infosys -
- Nandan Nilekani comes from south-Indian, solid, well-educated, Middle class Brahmin Family.
- He married to Rohini, his wife.
- He was a bright student when he was in School and he came first when he was at Bishop Cotton at Bangalore.
- Educational background of Nandan Nilekani -
At the age of 12, he went to live with an uncle in Dharwad and spent 4 years at Karnataka College in that town before finally getting into IIT, Mumbai.
Nandan was always been in the top 3 in his class at school. But according to him, getting into IIT was a revelation. He studied Electrical Engineering from IIT, Mumbai which was the most popular course at that time. And according to him, he was not scholar than other IIT students studying with him.
- Nandan has never lived at his parental home since the age of 12 because it was felt by his father that he would travel around and the young Nandan would have a more stable childhood with his uncle in Dharwad.
- Living in Dharwad with his uncle had 2 immediate consequences in nanadn’s life. First was that he developed what now he describes as a sense of independence at a young age and second was that the shift from Dharwad to Mumbai was Traumatic in class terms.
When he joined IIT, in those days a very different kind of person went to IITs. In IIT, there were all sophisticated big city guys from places like Cathedral School. And They has never met anybody who had gone to school in Dharwad.
- During IIT study, Nandan Nilekani first time realized that he was good at organizing things. So he got involved in organizing Mood indigo and other such events. He became a quizzer and ultimately in his Final year of his IIT Campus, he was the GS (General Secretary) of IIT Mumbai.
- By the end of 1978, Nandan was in the final year of engineering but he simply rejected the “Find-a-job abroad option” and he had applied for IIM NBA Entrance Exam. But because he was became ill before the Entrance Exam so he couldn’t take admission into IIM MBA Course.
- So he started looking for a Job in Mumbai and ultimately he find his first Job at “Patni Systems”.
- Patni Systems was a Computer firm and Nandan Nilekani has started a job in Patni Associates in Nariman Point, Mumbai in 1980.
- In that era, Nandan’s starting salary was just Rs.1200 a Month but it was really good according to that time.
- When his father retired, his last salary was Rs.1200 per Month and Nandan’s career’s first salary was Rs.1200 per Month. So according to Nandan “It seemed like a very good deal to start your career with a salary that was the same as your father’s at the end of his career.”
- So at Patni Systems, Nandan first time met Mr.NR Narayan Murthy (In the photo). And his life changed forever….
- Narayan Murthy had his own approach of hiring. He preferred young people straight out of college to engineers with experience. But he didn’t trust exam results alone so when Nandan went for his interview, he was started to find that Murthy expected him to solve puzzles and behaved like a school master conducting an IQ Test.
- Obviously, Nandan was good at puzzles because Murthy hired him on the spot and the 2 men quickly became close.
- In 1981, The Patni brother brother who normally interacted with Murthy was out of town and another brother treated him roughly. The exact details of the disagreement is unknown but according to rumors and the talk with inside persons, Murthy was asked to do something he disagree with; he asked Patni for an Explanation and was told, “Tum apna kaam karo, just do what you are told to do”.
- And Murthy places self-respect above everything else. So naturally he walked out. And naturally, his entre division (including nandan) walked out with him.
- Basically they were fed up for working for traditional “Bania Bosses” who don’t respect their Employees. So NR Narayan Murthy had decided to launch his own Company and that company was of course, Infosys.
- So NR Narayan Murthy & Nandan Nilekani had declared that they wanted to create ethical, professionally managed & Un-Marwari Company.
- Well, in that era, The Indian economy was ruled by North-Indian Marwaris and Marwari Businesses also known as Bania Businesses. They did not care employees and they also did unethical practices sometimes.
- So these 2 people wanted to run Infosys as the antithesis of the typical Marwari-bania Business of that era. So the following were (and still are) the Business Principals of Infosys.
01) Employees would be treated with respect.
02) No Bribes would be paid.
03) There would be no Cash transactions in the company, Only Cheque transactions
04) Nobody would take any money out of the Company &
05) Any decisions would be taken by a professional collective, not by sethji (Boss) and his son.
- So This is how the Infosys born. From the defectors of Patni Systems. There were total 7. Out of which 6 were south-Indians including Nandan & Murthy and 7th one was Punjabi, Ashok Arora.
- So The Infosys was represented the revolt of south Indian Brahmins against the North Indian Banias who dominated the Indian Business at that time.
- Early years of Infosys…….
In the early years, Infosys followed a travelling model. Murthy stayed on in India while his proteges went off to foreign countries to work onsite for a variety of clients.
In July 1981, Nandan went to the US and spent much of that decade in America.
The Infosys did reasonably well, it never made big money. And whatever it did earn was reinvested into the Business while the partners took the smallest salaries possible.
There was also some talk about dissolving the Business in late 1980s. and the only the force of Murthy’s personality along with Nandan’s conviction that the company would make it – kept Infosys going.
And things got changed. Infosys’s success is because of Manmohan Singh’s Liberalization – and in 1991, the company suddenly began to look like a winner.
In 1991, the turnover of Infosys was Rs.5.5 Crores; by 1992 it was 9.5 Crores; by 1993, it was 14 crores; by 1994 it was 30 crore till it reached 509 crores by 1999.
According to Nandan they were at the right place at right time.
In 1993, Infosys went Public. many of the investors of Infosys were foreign Because Indian Investors had decided to stay away from it because they were afraid of Investing in a Business that had no labour force, no plant and no machinery…….
Rs.10,000 Invested in Infosys during the 1993 would be above Rs.1.50 Crores today.
- Today Infosys is the 4th largest Company of India according to Market Capitalization after Reliance, ONGC & NTPC.
- Nandan is Rich today. His Wealth is in excess of Rs.3000 Crores today which fluctuates with the share prices of Infosys.
- Nandan was paid Rs.40 lakhs salary last year – and bill no expenses to the company.
- Nandan’s family has received Rs.66 Cores as Dividends. Plus there is the Rs.392 Crores from sale of shares through 2 ADR offerings.
- Along with his wife Rohini, Nandan spends Crores of rupees each year behind Philanthropic activities. When Rohini earned Rs.100 Crores from Infosys’s ADR issue, she put it into an Educational Foundation she runs.
- Nandan says that, “i really don’t have many expensive tastes. I have more money than I will ever need. My Children will not join the Company and I believe in the middle-class tradition that they should earn a living themselves.”
“So what am I going to do with the money? Leave it to charity when I die? In that case, why not use it to do some good while I am alive?”
So What was an Infosys?
It was an Idea………And what do these people owe their Success to?…….To Ideas……. Not to labours……Not to Machinery………..!!!!!!!!!!!
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