Nandan Nilekani and Elon Musk: Two tech tycoons, one shared goal – making public services faster, smarter, more efficient

At first glance, tech moguls Nandan Nilekani and Elon Musk may seem like polar opposites. Nilekani, the architect of India’s groundbreaking Aadhaar system and a key driver of UPI that revolutionised digital transactions, has devoted a big chunk of his career working through consensus to streamline India’s overburdened public services. In contrast, Musk, the maverick entrepreneur behind Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink, is a disruptor renowned for his boundary-pushing ambitions to colonise Mars and rewire human cognition.