Nandan Nilekani and wife Rohini declare assets worth Rs7,700 crore
21 Mar 2014
Infosys co-founder and Congress Party candidate for Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency Nandan Nilekani and his wife Rohini together hold assets worth Rs7,700 crore, according to the first public declaration of wealth by the former Infosys CEO and co-founder.
"I started out with Rs200 in my pocket, when I graduated from IIT; ...we founded Infosys with Rs10,000," Nilekani's media team quoted him as saying.
"Today, because of the success of a company built from scratch, Nandan and Rohini have assets of Rs7,700 crore," a media release said.
"I am proud of the fact that my wealth is completely transparent," said Nilekani who is pitted against BJP's Ananth Kumar in the Bangalore South constituency.
"I haven't made any 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."
Nearly 80 per cent of the couple's wealth is in the form of shares of Infosys. The rest of the money is in financial assets, a spokesman for Nilekani said without providing details.
The two together hold about 2.75 per cent of Infosys shares.
Against this, his opponent and five-time Lok Sabha member from Bangalore South, Ananth Kumar of BJP has declared assets of Rs51.12 lakh, less than that of his wife Tejaswani who owns assets worth Rs3.86 crore.
Total assets owned by the family is Rs4.4 crore, Kumar declared in an affidavit on Wednesday.
The BJP candidate told the Election Commission that he has cash in hand of Rs75,000 and a bank balance of Rs6.39 lakh. His wife Tejaswini has Rs1 lakh cash in hand and bank balance of Rs1.42 lakh. Kumar has LIC policies worth Rs22 lakh, Tejaswini worth Rs13 lakh and daughter Vijeta Rs4.33 lakh. Tejaswini also owns properties worth about Rs3.6 crore.
Against these, AAP ideologue and its candidate from Haryana, Yogendra Yadav, has declared Rs2,000 cash in hand, according to a declaration filed by him with EC.
Nationalist Congress Party's Praful Patel was the richest minister at the centre with assets of Rs122 crore as per his 2011 declaration.
Nama Nageswara Rao of Telugu Desam Party was the wealthiest MP with a wealth of Rs173 crore.
The Nilekanis have donated about Rs400 crore since 1999 to causes in the areas of education, water and governance.
The wealthiest candidate so far who contested a Lok Sabha election is N Nyimthungo Lotha, a candidate from the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland, who declared assets of over Rs9,000 crore in 2004.
His wealth, however, was derived from 15 sq km of non-agricultural land that he owned.
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