Infosys Technologies' Co-Chairman Nandan Nilekani was today appointed as Chairman of an Authority with Cabinet minister's rank to steer the ambitious scheme for creating a multi-purpose unique identification database of citizens.
54-year-old Nilekani, the co-founder of the leading IT firm along with N R Narayana Murthy 28 years ago, will head the Unique Identification Database Authority of India (UIDAI) under the aegis of the Planning Commission.
He will have the rank and status of the Cabinet minister, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.
The scheme is aimed at providing a unique identity to the targeted population of the flagship schemes to ensure that the benefits reach them, she said.
A visionary and a thinker, Nilekani, who gets an annual compensation of over USD 1.75 lakh and whose net worth is USD 1.3 billion, resigned his membership of Infosys Board of Directors following his appointment.
His colleagues in Infosys top management Mohandas Pai and Kris Gopalakrishnan said his exit from would be a loss to the organisation but a gain to the country.
Announcing his appointment, the PMO said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited Nilekani to chair an authority that will create a unique identification database of the country's citizens.
Nilekani, born in Sirsi in Uttara Kannada in northern Karnataka, did his early education in Bangalore and Dharwad before moving to Mumbai to study Electrical Engineering in IIT, Bombay.
The PMO said The functioning of the authority and activities to be performed by the UIA would serve multiple objectives.
The authority shall have the responsibility to lay down plans and policies to implement the unique identification scheme in the country.
It shall own and operate the unique identification number database and be responsible for its updation and maintenance on an ongoing basis.
Sonia said the Authority shall have responsibility to lay down plans and policies to implement the Unique Identification Scheme (UID), shall own and operate the Unique Identification number database and be responsible for its updation and maintenance on an ongoing basis," Soni said.
The Authority will identify the targeted groups for various flagship programmes, she added.
The flagship schemes of the UPA include the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, National Rural Health Mission and Bharat Nirman.
The unique identification number would ensure that any lacuna in these schemes is removed so that the benefits do not reach those they are not meant for.
The Government had earmarked Rs 100 crore in the interim Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament on February 16 to kickstart its ambitious Unique Identification Project.
The government has been working on improving arrangements to ensure that development deliverables reach the intended beneficiaries, Mukherjee had said.
People may not be screaming his name out in offices, but he has his own fan following and enjoys rock star-like fame. Nandan M Nilekani has clearly emerged as the most famous of those who created India's widely idolised IT company - Infosys.
N R Narayana Murthy has probably had more media coverage but as the key people behind Infosys prepare to hand over control to the next generation of business leaders, it is Nilekani who looks all set to enjoy a great solo career.
Nilekani, 54, is already credited with repainting India's image globally and will now head an authority that will create a unique electronic database of the country's citizens - a project that many see as key to plugging loopholes in implementation of welfare schemes.
As chairperson of the country's Unique Identification Authority, Nilekani would enjoy the rank of Cabinet Minister.
The electrical engineer from IIT, Bombay, who is the Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Infosys Technologies Limited, was named among Time magazine's world's 100 most influential people of 2009 - an honour he secured in 2006 too.
From March 2002 to June 22, 2007, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director and has previously held the posts of President and Chief Operating Officer of the company that he founded, along with Murthy and others, in 1981.
Economictimes & Agencies
Showing posts with label Kris Gopalakrishnan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kris Gopalakrishnan. Show all posts
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Minimum pay hikes for Infosys employees this year
Infosys Technologies, India's No. 2 outsourcer, would hand out minimum wage rises in April to its staff, its chief executive Kris Gopalakrishnan said on the sidelines of an industry conference.
"This is going to be a prolonged downturn," he said referring to the global economic slowdown.
The company expects IT services business to be slow in the foreseeable future as clients delay technology spending amid the global economic crisis, he added.
India's large pool of English-speaking engineers and cheaper wages has helped attract outsourcing from Western firms such as Citigroup, General Electric, Qantas and Airbus. But a recession in the United States, which accounts for more than half the sector's revenue, and turmoil in the global financial sector have halted the sector's scorching pace of growth and battered stocks.
"The environment continues to be challenging," Gopalakrishnan said. "The feedback we are getting from clients are that the budgets are going to be down, in some cases significantly down," he said of likely technology spending by the firm's customers.
"They are also saying that when the budgets are released there will be a delay in spending."
India's exports of software and services in the year to March will be sharply below an earlier forecast, expanding 16-17 per cent to about $47 billion, the National Association of Software and Service Companies said earlier this month.
On US President Barack Obama's pledge to end tax break for companies that send US jobs overseas, Gopalakrishnan said the Indian IT companies would wait to see how the proposal was implemented.
"My take on it is of course protectionism will only prolong the downturn," he said. "This is a challenge which we all have to face collectively."
Agencies
"This is going to be a prolonged downturn," he said referring to the global economic slowdown.
The company expects IT services business to be slow in the foreseeable future as clients delay technology spending amid the global economic crisis, he added.
India's large pool of English-speaking engineers and cheaper wages has helped attract outsourcing from Western firms such as Citigroup, General Electric, Qantas and Airbus. But a recession in the United States, which accounts for more than half the sector's revenue, and turmoil in the global financial sector have halted the sector's scorching pace of growth and battered stocks.
"The environment continues to be challenging," Gopalakrishnan said. "The feedback we are getting from clients are that the budgets are going to be down, in some cases significantly down," he said of likely technology spending by the firm's customers.
"They are also saying that when the budgets are released there will be a delay in spending."
India's exports of software and services in the year to March will be sharply below an earlier forecast, expanding 16-17 per cent to about $47 billion, the National Association of Software and Service Companies said earlier this month.
On US President Barack Obama's pledge to end tax break for companies that send US jobs overseas, Gopalakrishnan said the Indian IT companies would wait to see how the proposal was implemented.
"My take on it is of course protectionism will only prolong the downturn," he said. "This is a challenge which we all have to face collectively."
Agencies
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Infosys Technologies will freeze new recruitments
Infosys Technologies will freeze recruitment after meeting this fiscal year's target of hiring 25,000 staff, a telling sign the Infosys global downturn is hitting India's $52 billion outsourcing sector.
India's second largest software services firm however has no plans to cut jobs and is sticking with its third quarter outlook, CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan told reporters.
He said the outsourcing sector's growth rate would halve next year as some customers delay orders.
"Last year the IT industry grew more than 30 percent, this year it is looking at somewhere in the region of 15 percent," Gopalakrishnan said.
India's export-driven IT sector, used to a scorching pace of growth, has been hit by the financial crisis and recession in the United States, which contributes more than half their revenue.
In the last few years, the outsourcing industry has created tens of thousands of jobs, mainly attracting young workers, as global companies look to trim labour costs.
Infosys hired 16,000-17,000 employees in the first half of the fiscal year that began in April and would honour commitments to 6,000 under training, Gopalakrishnan said.
Infosys, which counts Goldman Sachs and Philips Electronics among its clients, cut its full-year dollar revenue outlook in October due to the worsening global downturn.
Gopalakrishnan said on Thursday the company would freeze fresh recruitment, apart from meeting specific skill needs.
"We will have to look at controlling our cost, controlling our expenses making sure that we run an optimised business. We will have to look at what are things we need to do in order to prepare ourselves for the recovery."
"Growth is coming more and more from emerging markets so hese are the things we need to prepare ourselves. We should not lose momentum in this slowdown," he said.
But Infosys still expects its strong client base and a weakening rupee to help it meet a forecast for December quarter earnings of $0.57 a share. The rupee has fallen nearly six percent so far this quarter against the dollar.
"Infosys is seeing further degradation of the demand environment, with headwinds from leadership changes at customers, a shrinking large deal pipeline .... Pricing pressure has emerged," CLSA Asia-Pacific said in a report this week.
India's second largest software services firm however has no plans to cut jobs and is sticking with its third quarter outlook, CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan told reporters.
He said the outsourcing sector's growth rate would halve next year as some customers delay orders.
"Last year the IT industry grew more than 30 percent, this year it is looking at somewhere in the region of 15 percent," Gopalakrishnan said.
India's export-driven IT sector, used to a scorching pace of growth, has been hit by the financial crisis and recession in the United States, which contributes more than half their revenue.
In the last few years, the outsourcing industry has created tens of thousands of jobs, mainly attracting young workers, as global companies look to trim labour costs.
Infosys hired 16,000-17,000 employees in the first half of the fiscal year that began in April and would honour commitments to 6,000 under training, Gopalakrishnan said.
Infosys, which counts Goldman Sachs and Philips Electronics among its clients, cut its full-year dollar revenue outlook in October due to the worsening global downturn.
Gopalakrishnan said on Thursday the company would freeze fresh recruitment, apart from meeting specific skill needs.
"We will have to look at controlling our cost, controlling our expenses making sure that we run an optimised business. We will have to look at what are things we need to do in order to prepare ourselves for the recovery."
"Growth is coming more and more from emerging markets so hese are the things we need to prepare ourselves. We should not lose momentum in this slowdown," he said.
But Infosys still expects its strong client base and a weakening rupee to help it meet a forecast for December quarter earnings of $0.57 a share. The rupee has fallen nearly six percent so far this quarter against the dollar.
"Infosys is seeing further degradation of the demand environment, with headwinds from leadership changes at customers, a shrinking large deal pipeline .... Pricing pressure has emerged," CLSA Asia-Pacific said in a report this week.
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