Quotes from Shiv Nadar

We need schools like Doon and Mayo for the poor.

We invited HP executives to participate in the management and in the board. HCL had this concept of corporate officers since inception in 1999. We had a remuneration committee. Now everyone is talking about nomination and remuneration committee. We had this from 1999.

Most people make poor partners because their mental script has a defect. They believe focus means looking after their own interests. It's a script error.

Working with Roshni gives me lot of confidence. When I started SSN - in 1994, after a windfall gain from HCL-HP then - I was OK to do it alone. My brother, who was supposed to head it, passed away. We had a governing council to run it. That was a leap of faith, and we didn't know where we will get.

I would like to share something that is being done extremely well by Bill Gates through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation is only going to address areas which are seen by Bill or Melinda as ills of the world. The foundation has no perpetuity.

Major forces that have contributed to the evolution of philanthropy in India in the pre-modern era have mainly been driven by religion, family, and society. The Hindu teaching of 'daan' or 'giving' is present in different ways in almost every celebration or ritual.

Supposing I write out a cheque for a billion dollars to the foundation, does it mean anything? There must be evidence of philanthropy. Otherwise, I'm sitting with that money, earning interest exactly the way in my holding company.

My daughter is very happy doing philanthropy, especially in the schools.

When I got started in my own engineering course, my interest in physics and maths was very high. After all, engineering is all about applied maths and physics. If I were to learn anything further in physics or mathematics, it simply was not there.

I was a very good student. But I didn't have the latitude to study more. I was never allowed to do anything cross-disciplinary. Why can't an engineering student learn physics?

If you go to Wall Street, there is someone from Harvard, Stanford, etc, who relate to each other by the batch they studied in, the dorm they lived in, and so on.

I was with top CEOs in 2009, and they were clearly shaken. Top leaders of Wall Street and elsewhere, shaken. The ones at the top did get by because if they are seeing a decline somewhere, there is also growth elsewhere, like in emerging economies.

At what age did Warren Buffett come into philanthropy? At 76. He gave a very good reason. He said his wife was considerably younger than him. And all Americans believe they would live till 80, and they do live till 80. He told his wife that when he is gone, she should take care of whatever they need to do.

The moment I write out a cheque, it's an asset I have written off.

I believe good corporate governance is critical in enhancing competitiveness and creating industry - leading profitable growth and superior returns for every stakeholder of the institution.

On Sundays, we would travel to the town and watch English movies. This way, we must have ended up watching some 1, 000 movies during college.

I was born in Tamil Nadu. I built HCL in UP. The first computers of the world were built in UP, and the UP government has supported us all through.

All businessmen - how do they communicate? God knows. Sign language, probably.

If you are calm about your ambitions, you become confident of achieving what you set out to do.

Adaptability and constant innovation is key to the survival of any company operating in a competitive market.

Any organisation has to go through at least one depression to see how it survives, and a normal economic cycle takes seven years.

After Independence, there were periods of very high taxation. So you didn't create wealth, how will you distribute it? When was the first time capital gains tax was introduced? It was 1992 March. Till then, everything was taxed one way.

The future consists of cross specialisation; that is how university systems abroad have evolved.

India's connection with philanthropy didn't begin with western influences. The connection with philanthropy is age-old and ingrained in our value systems.