Companies are better off not going public with their views if they do not agree with the government on key issues, according to Nandan Nilekani, chairman and co-founder, Infosys. “It is certainly my view if we have something to say, we should say it behind closed doors, ..there is no point going public if you don’t agree,” Nilekani observed while responding to a question on the reluctance of India Inc to take a public position on critical issues, at The Indian Express’s Adda on Friday.
Nilekani said he preferred to make a difference through actions rather than words. “Just taking a public position may not be the way to go about it,” he said.
Nilekani also believes companies must learn to separate noise from signals. Commenting on Infosys having been termed ‘anti-national” by Panchjanya, a magazine known to be affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, on the grounds that the company delayed fixing of glitches on the income tax portal, he said, in today’s ecosystem with its many views businesses can’t get into opinion. “We need to run the business,” he asserted.
Commenting on the stratospheric valuations of start-ups, Nilekani said we could see some value compression as interest rates rise in the US and there is less liquidity. “The stock market is a voting machine in the short term and a weighing machine in the long term when profits and cash flows become important. When liquidity is reduced, yes it will have an impact on values because right now the values are based on interest rates staying at zero and abundant liquidity,” he said.
Nilekani believes that users of technology and products should also take steps to protect their privacy even as a privacy law is in the making. “A law would be good, but it is also up to us to create multiple profiles. Privacy is about boundary management,” he said.
Speaking about his book The Art of Bitfulness: Keeping Calm in the Digital World, co-authored with Tanuj Bhojwani, Nilekani said it addresses the question of how individuals can become masters of their technology rather than allowing it to manipulate themselves. “It is not an anti-tech book, it is a pro-you book,” he said.
In response to a question on the problems at BharatPe, he observed it was not only tech companies that have not stuck to the straight and narrow phenomenon.
On cryptocurrencies, Nilekani said disaggregation will inevitably happen when the technology for it exists. At the same time, there is no such thing as perfect decentralisation, and there may be more innovation. “Regulators in some economies are regulating self-preferencing (sale of coins issued by crypto exchanges),” he said, adding that we are still some way away from regulating cryptos and governments taking stock of their role. “In China, after many years of light regulation now you see some measures to regulate them. The US has a more light-touch role, but they feel they should start doing more,” Nilekani said. He also spoke of concerns around stablecoins. Authorities are now concerned that if a stablecoin has adequate reserves and if there’s a run on it, there may not be enough ammunition to handle the situation.
Financial Express is now on Telegram. 
