What Sachin Tendulkar is to Indian cricket and Amitabh Bachchan to Indian film industry, so is Nandan M. Nilekanni to Indian Information technology - a living legend. It's difficult to find a single soul who hasn't heard of this IT super brain. In fact, his very name has become synonymous with a resurgent India as an emerging IT superpower in the world. Or befittingly, as it sounds - he has overgrown his own stature and assumed a global figure! Known for his foresight, business acumen and empire-building abilities, the suave and soft-spoken Nilekani's success remains an enigma to most.

But as it's said every success has a story of sweat, blood and tears behind it, so is the case with Nilekani who has worked relentlessly over the decades to bring Infosys into world's reckoning. With diversification in approach, Nilekani epitomizes new e-age mastermind of software. A Bachelor of Technology holder in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay, Nilikani has catapulted Infosys to India's leading software services exporter, which grew nearly 50% in 2004, to $1.59 billion in revenues. Today, it has a market capitalisation of $2.5 billion in the US and is within close range of making the cut, with $3.2 billion in Nasdaq 100 list. In fact, Nilekani recently added another milestone to Infosys' history by presiding over the opening bell in celebration of sponsored secondary ADS offering at Nasdaq.

The ADS priced at $1 billion happened to be the largest foreign offering by an Indian company so far. One of the co-founders of Infosys Technologies Ltd, Nilekani has been its Director since 1981 and is currently the Chief Executive Officer, President and Managing Director and Chairman, Management Council of the firm. One of the lifelines of Infosys, Nilekani's conviction in the future of the firm has been so steadfast that he has been serving the firm for the last 25 years in different capacity, including its Chief Operating Officer and Head of Banking Business Unit.

Nilekani has never waited for a good opportunity to come by before he took action. He always created opportunities as he went by. As a result, at a young age he has achieved what takes most people a lifetime and he is still a long way from retiring which itself speaks on how much further this dynamic half of Infosys is going to rise. Already, Nilekani became one of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the prestigious World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board on January 2006. He is also listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine, 2006.

Nilekani has been on the Board of Reuters as a Non-Executive Member since January 2007. He is the Vice Chairman of The Conference Board, Inc., an international research and business membership organization and a Member of ASPEN Institute's Business and Society Advisory Board. He serves as the Co-chairman of the Advisory Board of the IIT Bombay Heritage Fund. He also serves on the London Business School's Asia Pacific Regional Advisory Board.

In India, Nilekani is a member of the National Knowledge Commission and also part of the National Advisory Group on e-Governance. He is also a member of the review committee of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. It was Nilekani who Co-founded India's National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM).

A patriot to the boot, Nilekani has always contributed to nation's development and progress in every way that he could and thus, has been involved in various initiatives of the central and state governments. He was the Chairman of the Government of India's IT Task Force for power. Nilekani has also served as a member of the subcommittee of the Securities and Exchange Board of India that dealt with issues related to Insider Trading, and as a member of the Reserve Bank of India's Advisory Group on corporate governance.

Nilekani is the recipient of several prestigious awards and honors. He was the Forbes "Businessman of the Year" in 2007. He and N. R. Narayana Murthy, received Fortune magazine's 'Asia's Businessmen of the Year 2003' award. He was named among the 'World's most respected business leaders' in 2002 and 2003, according to a global survey by Financial Times and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He was also awarded the Corporate Citizen of the Year award at the Asia Business Leader Awards (2004) organized by CNBC. In 2005, Nilekani was awarded the prestigious Joseph Schumpeter prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics. In 2006, Nilekani was conferred the Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian honors awarded by the Government of India for his contributions in the fields of science and engineering. Undoubtedly, with a person like Nilekani manning the IT giant, there is no progamme, project which would need rebooting.