VC website listed Nandan Nilekani name till Dec, 2009
By Bala Shah

Nandan Nilekani co-founded Infosys, and like his mentor Mr. Narayana Murthy, became an icon of the Indian tech industry.  The Govt of India, impressed with his impeccable credentials, hired Nandan in June, 2009 and gave him a cabinet rank to head the UID Project. Most feel Nandan is the best man for the job.

Like most Government ministers, Nandan was expected to cut his money making links with the private sector. Nandan resigned from Infosys to head the UID Project.  By resigning from Infosys, he effectively gave up a job that guaranteed a rich income for the rest of his life. In that sense, he has sacrificed millions for public service.

The respected British newspaper Telegraph published a hard hitting article on another prominent Indian and Chairman of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr Rajendra Pachauri, on Dec 20, 2009. The Telegraph news article started by pointing out that Dr. Pachauri has a PhD in Economics but no qualifications in climate science. The Telegraph then detailed how Dr Pachauri has established an astonishing worldwide portfolio of business interests with bodies which have been investing billions of dollars in organisations dependent on the IPCC’s policy recommendations. 

The Telegraph article has listed every potential conflict of interest and it then stated

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But this is peanuts compared to the numerous other posts to which Dr Pachauri has been appointed in the years since the UN chose him to become the world’s top ‘climate-change official’.

In 2007, for instance, he was appointed to the advisory board of Siderian, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm specialising in ‘sustainable technologies’, where he was expected to provide the Fund with ‘access, standing and industrial exposure at the highest level’,
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To an average Indian, this clearly looks like a conflict of interest.  No Indian in Government or United Nations can justify strong profitable links with any business house.  If the Telegraph has done its maths right, this UN public servant tasked with the noble cause of climate control makes millions of dollars from big business.

You may well ask what all this has to do with technology and a website like Techgoss which only reports on our IT, BPO and Telecom Sectors?

The Telegraph report published on Dec, 20, 2009 pointed out how in 2007, Dr. Pachauri had been appointed as a Senior Advisor to San Francisco-based Venter Capital firm Siderian. 

In August, 2009, Techgoss received a tip that the same VC firm Siderian also listed Mr. Nandan Nilekani as a Senior Advisor.

In August, 2009, Techgoss checked and found Nandan’s name on the Siderian website.  We dismissed it as an oversight by a highly successful company in removing the name of a Cabinet Minister ranked Indian from its website. No Indian Minister or senior Government official can be an advisor to an American or European company. 

Techgoss also noticed that Mr. Narayana Murthy’s daughter is a driving force at Siderian.  Siderian’s website described her as “Ms. Akshata Murthy, Senior Associate (Siderian), Marketing Director (Tendris US). Ms. Murthy combines cleantech marketing talent with analytical skills from her previous work at Deloitte and Unilever. Ms. Murthy holds an MBA from Stanford Business School speaks four languages and was born and raised in India.”

Chance or coincidence?  Three of the best known Indians working for the same California-based Venture Capital firm.

What is surprising is that the Siderian still listed these 3 prominent Indians on their website till early December, 2009.

Siderian has now removed all their names from the website.  Till the recent controversy broke, Akshata Murthy and Dr. Pachauri  were publicly listed on the Siderian website  Even though their website listed Nandan Nilekani as an advisor till the first week of December, his name has now disappeared from their website. 

Techgoss accessed the Google cache and found the deleted page still available on the internet. (Please note that we have only published the names/details of Siderian employees who are relevant to this article. But the cache lists every senior employee who works for that company)

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This is Google's cache of http://www.tendris.nl/Pages/companies/siderian/advisory.aspx. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 4 Dec 2009 12:31:30 GMT. The current page could have changed in the meantime.

Team and Advisory Board

We are an experienced group of entrepreneurs, investors and operators who have come together to build next generation cleantech companies. We are passionate about and have expertise in the cleantech sector, with strong local networks across multiple geographies (USA, Europe and India), and take an unconventional approach to venture capital and company building. We are honored to be supported by an international Senior Advisory Board with highly experienced people who share our passion to positively impact the environment by building sustainable businesses.

Siderian Investment Team

Ms. Akshata Murthy, Senior Associate (Siderian), Marketing Director (Tendris US). Ms. Murthy combines cleantech marketing talent with analytical skills from her previous work at Deloitte and Unilever. Ms. Murthy holds an MBA from Stanford Business School, speaks four languages and was born and raised in India.

Siderian Ventures has a world class Senior Advisory Board and a Network of Scientific Advisors which allow us to tap into broad markets with the technical expertise to enable successful outcomes for our entrepreneurs.

Senior Advisory Board

Mr. Nandan Nilekani is the Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Infosys Technologies Limited. He is one of the founders of Infosys and has served as a director on the company's board since its inception. Mr. Nilekani was elected to become one of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the prestigious World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board. He is listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine, 2006. He is the Vice Chairman of The Conference Board, Inc., as a Board Member for the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and serves as the Co-chairman of the IIT Bombay Heritage Fund. In 2005, Mr. Nilekani was awarded the prestigious Joseph Schumpeter prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics. In 2006, the Government of India conferred on Mr. Nilekani the Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian honors awarded by the Government of India.

Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri is an economist and an environmental policy specialist who has served as Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since April 2002. On December 10th, 2007, Dr. Pachauri accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC, along with co-recipient, former United Sates Vice President Albert Gore. He is also the Director-General of the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), a research institution based out of New Delhi, India. Dr. Pachauri has been active in several international forums dealing with the subject of climate change and its policy dimensions. He has also authored 23 books and over a hundred papers and articles. To acknowledge his immense contributions to the field of environment, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the President of India in January 2001. In 2006, he was awarded "Officier De La Legion D'Honneur" by the Government of France. Most recently, in recognition of his contribution to India, Dr. Pachauri was given the Padma Vibhushan award by the President of India.
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Why did Siderian still use Nandan Nilekani’s name till Dec, 2009?  Why have they now even removed  Akshata Murthy and Dr. Pachauri’s name from their website?

All quite mysterious.  Why should a purely commercial firm sudden remove the names of such highly regarded and high value employees and advisors form their website?