Nandan Nilekani on Deep-Tech Bets

He flagged DPI Climate as a new frontier — including a digital energy grid that would let homes with solar panels and batteries sell surplus power back to the grid. Nilekani calls energy the next UPI, signalling his ambition to extend the same open-architecture, interoperable thinking into electricity markets.

In 2019 Nilekani was inducted as an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2024 TIME featured him among the hundred Most Influential People in AI — underlining that his footprint now extends beyond IT services and digital identity into the artificial-intelligence conversation shaping India's next decade.