Nandan Nilekani quotes:

It's because Gandhi believed in villages and because the British ruled from the cities; therefore, Nehru thought of New Delhi as an un-Indian city.

When India got independence, entrepreneurs were seen as a bad lot, as people who would exploit.

Bangalore now wants a person who doesn't only play politics. Bangalore needs a problem solver, and I am a problem solver. I will be the bridge between Bangalore and the Centre.

I am not in politics to make more money.

I think politics is the biggest lever of change in India.

Bangalore needs a honest, passionate and hard-working MP, and I will be that MP.

My parents were concerned that I would not get good schooling, so they put me up in my uncle's house in Dharwad, and I spent about six years there. So at a very young age, I was away from my parents. I developed an amount of independence and learned to stand on my own feet.

Indian higher education is completely regulated. It's very difficult to start a private university. It's very difficult for a foreign university to come to India. As a result of that, our higher education is simply not keeping pace with India's demands. That is leading to a lot of problems which we need to address.

My background is putting in large systems that change lives... The right kind of systems can bring honesty and efficiency.

I scribbled four words down in my notebook: 'The world is flat.

Privacy is a vast subject. Also, remember that privacy and convenience is always a trade-off. When you open a bank account and want to borrow some money, and you want to get a very cheap loan, you'll share all details of your assets because you want them to give you a low interest rate.

Congress is my ideological home; I come from a Nehruvian family.

Slowly, ideas lead to ideology, lead to policies that lead to actions.

You don't choose a party because it's the flavour of the month. I feel I will be able to work under a political system. I feel if people like me don't enter politics to bring change, who will?

The biggest thing the money Infosys brought me is the freedom to do what I want. And what I want is to give millions more the opportunities I had.

Infosys was going to be a different type of company. It was going to be very ethically run, meritocratic, quality-conscious, transparent. People didn't confuse the personal with the corporate.

I am proud of the fact that my wealth is completely transparent.