Billionaire Tech Pioneer Takes On Amazon, Walmart in India

  • Infosys co-founder helping India build an open e-commerce grid
  • Ambitious state project aims to get small merchants on board
Nandan NilekaniPhotographer: Samyukta Lakshmi/Bloomberg
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He co-founded software powerhouse Infosys Ltd., became a billionaire and went on to spearhead a colossal government program to create biometric identification for India’s almost 1.4 billion people.

Now 66, Nandan Nilekani has one more ambitious goal. The high-profile mogul is helping Prime Minister Narendra Modi build an open technology network that seeks to level the playing field for small merchants in the country’s fragmented but fast-growing $1 trillion retail market.