Nilekani bids adieu to Infosys

One of India's largest infotech companies, Infosys on Thursday finally bid adieu to one of its founders and co-chairman, Nandan Nilekani, who is leaving the company to head the central government's unique identification card project. (See: Nandan Nilekani quits Infosys to head government agency)

Nilekani received the final farewell at the company's Electronics City campus in Bangalore, in the presence of the founding team, company board members and Infoscions.

Former chairman and one off the other six co-founders N R Narayana Murthy along with other founding members described their fond memories and experiences of creating Infosys. Nilekani and other founder members were accompanied by their family members as well.

Krish Gopalakrishnan, Infoysis's chief executive, said, "Though there would be a sense of loss, he (Nilekani) would continue to be a friend of the company. If you look at the larger picture and what Nandan is going to take on, then we will be proud. We are happy that someone like Nilekani has been invited by the prime minister to head such an ambitious project of providing unique identification cards to over a billion citizens."

The farewell programme was streamed as a webcast on the company's intranet as well ro Infosys employees worldwide. ''It was a big event. It was web-cast for all our colleagues across the world. On our campus, more than 5,000 watched it in the auditorium and on special video screens in different wings. It was an emotional moment for all,'' T V Mohandas Pai, head of HR and board member, said.

Nilekani held the position of CEO and managing director of Infosys between March 2002 and June 2007. Before this he was the president and chief operating officer of the company. During his tenure, Infosys' revenues rose from Rs3,604 crore to Rs13,893 crore, and its employee base rose from 10,700 people to over 72,000.