Nandan Nilekani has been called the Bill Gates of Bangalore and the face of Brand Infosys, indelibly identified with the company he co-founded and the city it is based in. As he moves on to his new role as head of the Manmohan Singh government’s Unique Identification project, the reactions in the company and the city are a mix of emotional and exultant.

“It is really sad that he will no longer be part of the Infosys family,” said Trupthi Narayan, a 26-year-old software engineer who works at Infosys’s spectacular 80-acre campus in the Electronics City suburbs of Bangalore. “But I’m thrilled that he will use his vast skills and experience to build the India he imagined.”

In the campus, which houses a fifth of the company’s 100,000-plus employees, Nilekani’s compelling presence will be missed. Employees are curious and excited about his new role. “He will be out there pursuing a greater cause,” said Hitesh Sharma, 27, a market analyst with Infosys’s product engineering team.

Nilekani’s peers in the outsourcing industry see his appointment as a tribute to India’s growing confidence in its technology industry’s capability in solving the country’s problems as well as an accolade to leadership in the tech sector.

Setting up Infosys in Bangalore with Rs 10,000 in pooled savings,

N R Narayana Murthy, Nilekani and other founders have built it up to a $5-billion company.

Nilekani is a billionaire by virtue of his Infosys stock holding. With wealth and clout, the Murthys and the Nilekanis are increasingly involved in the non-profit, social sector.

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