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‘I carry the spirit of Mumbai in myself’

Rohini NiIekani, wife of software entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani, opens up about her Mumbai roots and philanthropic work.

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If a competition is held in philanthropy among the wives of India’s top corporates then Rohini Nilekani will surely rank in the top rung. The soft spoken wife of software entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani has secured a hat-trick this year — she has featured in the Forbes’ list of top entrepreneurs a third time in a row.

“I consider this as a great honour. I have invested Rs150 crore of my own money into this (philanthropic activities). A large part of my efforts have gone into Pratham (a trust that she co-founded in 2004, the books division of which aims at publishing inexpensive but good quality books for children) and I still nurture the dream of getting every child of this country good books to read,” says Rohini.

After completing her chairmanship in Akshara Foundation (a Bangalore-based public charitable trust whose mission is to ensure that every child is in school; Pratham Books  comes under this) she now focuses on Arghyam, which now focuses on water management in villages.

“My daughter Jahnavi (who has just graduated in business from Yale University) has also joined the Arghyam Board. Regarding Nandan, he has his own charities. We discuss about our (charity) work and support each other but we haven’t taken up anything (project) jointly till now,” she adds.

Rohini reveals that she is a Mumbaikar and she misses the city like anybody else who has shifted base from here. “I was a Soman (her surname) before marriage and I was born and brought up in Mumbai. I went to Elphinstone College and then St Xavier’s College. I don’t know whether some people will allow me to call myself so, but I am a Mumbaikar. There are so many small little things that I miss about the city. For example, there is this panipuriwala in front of Prarthana Samaj from whom I have panipuris whenever I am in the city. I have been his client for the last 20 years. When we talk about Mumbai, I cherish these little things about the city. I carry the spirit of Mumbai in myself,” she says.

More about Rohini...
Rohini grew up in a middle-class family in Mumbai. She earned an undergraduate degree in French literature from Elphinstone College. She can speak English, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi Konkani and French  while understanding Spanish.

She has a postgraduate diploma in mass communications from St Xavier’s College, and then she started working as a reporter (at the Bombay magazine in 1980).

She met Nandan at a quiz competition at her college in 1977. He was then pursuing a B Tech degree at IIT Powai. They got married in 1981. The same year Nandan helped start Infosys, along with NR Narayana Murthy and five other engineers. She owns 1.67 per cent of Infosys and her personal fortune has soared to more than $300 million as the company stock rose.

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