Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in his maiden official visit to Bengaluru on Monday met with Aadhaar champion and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani to discuss the combined power of cloud and India Stack and the interaction between two of the best technology minds in the IT industry offered a glimpse of the changes happening around us and how artificial intelligence and augmented reality will be the defining force in future. Nadella felt that it is gratifying to see data as the new natural resource through which an entire tech eco-system can be built, to which Nilekani said that the fundamental idea is to ensure the empowerment of every individual through a database like Aadhaar. Excerpts of the conversation:

Satya Nadella: How do you see the overall technology changes in India?

Nandan Nilekani: I’m very excited by what is happening around and wish I was 20 years younger. The power is brought about through the infrastructure built around the cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), mobile phones etc. This has brought a capability which was not there before. The government has invested billions to build the ID platform and there are applications built over it.

Nilekani: What has been your experience of building technology platforms?

Nadella: Microsoft has always created the basic technology infrastructure. Fundamentally we are a tools and platforms company. I have bet on three platforms: cloud and AI which kind of go together as cloud has the infinite capability of storage and it is this large amounts of data which is fuelling AI. The second area is Cortona which focuses on natural languages and the third one is going to be augmented reality which provides the 360 degree immersive view.

Nadella: What is your vision for India stack which is pretty tremendous?

Nilekani: Unless you have the speed and scale, a thing like Aadhar cannot be rolled out. We have crossed billion users in five-and-half-years. Initially we built API for authentication then there was the KYC. It is possible through Aadhar to do eKYC. These same technologies are being used by the government to reduce wastage while for the private sector it is a way for customer acquisition. Then you have the electronic signature to sign a document. The government is also launching digital lockers which can be applied to all sectors. The next big thing which was built was the UPI, the world’s first interoperable mobile to mobile transaction. The last piece will be electronic consent. India is going to be data rich. If all these technologies can be used for empowerment then it will make it more acceptable.

Nilekani: How do you see the combination of India stack with MS platforms and collaboration technologies?

Nadella: It is just short sight to think about just one platform. Governments in India are using machine learning to detect high school dropouts or find out the yield of farms. This can also be used to build affordable eyecare.

Nadella: What are the key challenges in terms of privacy and security?

Nilekani: The question is where does government infrastructure end and where does private innovation start. Governments can invest ahead of time and they have to follow the highest standards of security and privacy. This also ensures high base of participation and private enterprises can engage with this infrastructure.

Nilekani: How do you plan to engage with the entrepreneurs in the country?

Nadella: The centre of all our entrepreneurial energy is around the cloud. The energy level is fantastic. India market is huge and we are seeing start-ups which have cross sectional impact. They are building on India stack using cloud and other diagnostic tools. There are world class AI start-ups. Thousands of start-ups are using cloud to scale up.