Nandan Nilekani At Infosys AGM: Uncertainty Unlike Anything Seen Before
There is a clear need to accelerate supply-chain diversification, says the Infosys chairperson.
Global uncertainty emerging from the tariff shocks, rapid adoption of artificial intelligence and energy transition is unlike anything seen before, Infosys Ltd. Chairperson Nandan Nilekani said on Wednesday.
"As we look around us, there is a perfect storm of multiple colliding trends that is raging," Nilekani told shareholders at the annual general meeting. "The world is shifting from a single global market to fragmented blocs, forcing companies to make strategic choices and navigate between regions."
He recalled the Covid-19 experience from a few years back when the need to de-risk supply chains emerged.
"Tariffs are signalling to us that businesses must also derisk their sourcing. With bilateral and regional trade routes emerging as dominant forces, there is a clear need to accelerate supply-chain diversification," he said.
Nilekani also highlighted the uncertainty created by AI adoption. "Legacy system modernisation and data architecture overhauls to ensure all the firm's data is consumable by AI are becoming increasingly unavoidable. Companies need both: AI foundries for innovation and AI factories for scaling," he said.
The Infosys chairperson also noted that regulatory variances across regions present implementation complexities for AI systems and challenges.
Nilekani said energy transition would now depend on innovation in solar, wind, battery, hydrogen and nuclear technologies.
"Every type of business in every part of the world is having to first adapt to rapidly changing business and technological disruption before advancing into an uncertain and unfamiliar future," Nilekani said.
