'I missed the exam, I didn't feel well': Nandan Nilekani reveals what led him to found Infosys

Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani has opened up about the unusual way he was one of the tailors of the Indian IT industry and built a company that has emerged as the country’s second largest technology firm. In an interview with Groww, Nandan Nilekani said that he met Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys, when he decided to leave his IIM exams. Nilekani revealed that he missed the IIM entrance exam because he was not feeling well, and was “too lazy” to apply for SAT and GMAT. “I came out of IIT (Bombay) and I thought I would do IIM. But I missed the exam. I didn’t feel well that day. So, I didn’t take the entrance exam. I was too lazy to apply for SAT and GMAT. So, I was really at a crossroads – what should I do next,” he said. That’s when he heard about Patni Computer Systems, a Mumbai-based company dealing in mini computers – a rare gem in those days. “Someone told me there was a company in Nariman Point. Why don’t you go talk to them? I heard about this little company called Patni Computer Systems. In 1977, IBM left India. So, there was kind of a vacuum here… I heard they had online computers – in those days it was a big deal,” he said in the interview. Meet Narayana Murthy It was at Patni Computer Systems that Nandan Nilekani met Narayana Murthy, with whom he founded Infosys and scaled it into one of India’s largest technology giants. “I walked into this room, met Murthy, who asked me a puzzle and said – you can join. So, I joined,” Nilekani said. Starting Infosys When asked about whose idea it was to start Infosys, Nandan Nilekani gave the credit to Narayana Murthy. “It was Murthy’s vision. He always wanted to start a company. He is about 10 years older than me. We all worked for him and we started Infosys,” he said. Nilekani recalled how they scaled Infosys as a company. “By the early 1990s, India had changed a lot – you had economic reforms, the market opened up and global companies started coming.” “We realized that unless we think big, we’re not going to make it. So, we got into this scale thing and built India’s first campus in 1992… five acres in Electronic City,” he said. Nilekani recalled how they protested in the early days to get a road built in front of the campus. “There was no road either. Then we did dharna to get the road built,” he said. I came out of IIT (Bombay) and I thought I would do IIM. But I missed the exam. I did not feel well that day. “We always set very big goals. Get up to 100 million, get billion, get any 10 billion,” Nilekani added. Nandan Nilekani, NR Narayana Murthy and five others left Patni to start their own company, Infosys, in 1981. Nilekani was the CEO of Infosys between 2002 and 2007.