Vineet Nayar has spent his life challenging attitudes to leadership and management. Here he talks exclusively to douglas morrison about his work at tech giant HCL, his philanthropic foundation and why employees should come before customers

BANGALORE: Former HCL Technologies CEO Vineet Nayar has turned seed capitalist to promote social entrepreneurs in rural India.

Vineet Nayar is something of a legend in the Indian IT space.

Early in Vineet Nayar’s tenure as leader of HCL Technologies, he had an important message for his troubled company.

Last year, Nayar stepped down as CEO and then as vice-chairman of HCL, India’s fourth-largest software services provider, to devote more to philanthropy through his Sampark Foundation even as he advises several companies on their strategies.