Nandan Nilekani’s efforts to reform the nation’s education sector face employability and AI challenges amid anger over exam scandals
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenBiman MukherjiPublished: 11:00am, 4 Aug 2026India’s tech titan Nandan Nilekani faces an uphill battle overhauling the country’s education system amid exam scandals, student protests and rising youth unemployment.Nilekani, co-founder of technology behemoth Infosys, was appointed head of a national task force for exam reforms following widespread anger and controversies over alleged paper leaks involving the competitive exam for aspiring doctors, the National Eligibility Entrance Test.Analysts say the real test for a reformer best known for building digital systems at population scale is whether he can help push deeper changes in India’s education sector and boost youth employability.
Nilekani is the architect of a national digital identity platform that serves as the backbone of India’s digital public infrastructure, providing access to an array of services even for remote communities.
Yet delivering quality education on a massive scale remains a challenge despite platforms like Diksha (a digital platform for school education) and Swayam (an online learning portal for higher education), partly because of gaps in device ownership, language diversity and economic inequalities that leave many children dependent on underfunded schools.
