Claim
Indian Express report stating Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani invested $892 million in a ‘get-rich-quick’ trading platform for citizens
Fact
Indian Express report found to be fake, Nandan Nilekani quashes rumours of launching crypto project
A Facebook post has gone viral, sharing a screenshot and link of a purported Indian Express report that states that Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani has “invested $892 million in a new trading platform to make ordinary people richer”.
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
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Fact check
The URL directed us to an unrelated Indian Express report, dated April 28, 2022, stating that Nandan Nilekani is taking on Amazon, Walmart in India. According to the report, “The high-profile mogul is helping Prime Minister Narendra Modi build an open technology network that seeks to level the playing field for small merchants in the country’s fragmented but fast-growing $1 trillion retail market.”
Similar articles can be seen here and here, where it is stated that the purpose of the network is to create a freely accessible online system where traders and consumers can buy and sell everything from 23-cent detergent bars to $1,800 airline tickets. “But its unspoken objective is to eventually curb the powers of Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart, whose online dominance has alarmed small merchants and the millions of local mom-and-pop stores, called kirana, that form the nation’s retail backbone,” read the article. There was no mention of an $892 million investment in a “get-rich-quick” trading platform.
One viral link, showing the purported Indian Express report, led us to a profile of Nilekani. There is no mention of Nilekani investing in a trading platform.
Another viral link led us to what appears to be an Indian Express report, dated April 18, 2023. The masthead, date, and URL of the webpage are unlike those on the official website of the Indian Express, raising our doubts. The ‘report’ stated that Nilekani appeared in a show hosted by Yourstory, a website that publishes startup-related stories, and endorsed a trading platform. “The possibilities of crypto platforms are absolutely limitless…I am investing most of my capital in a ’new Bitcoin Profit’ platform so that the life of every resident of India becomes more convenient…”, Nilekani was quoted in the report.
When we looked up the Indian Express’s official website on April 18, 2023, there was no such report.
Newschecker ran a keyword search for “Nandan Nilekani $892 million”, which led us to multiple news reports stating that the Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani has denied launching a crypto project. The reports can be seen here and here.
The reports led us to a tweet by Nilekani, dated February 15, 2022.
Not The First Time
Business moguls Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani and Azim Premji have all been the subjects of similar fake Indian Express reports and interviews, intended to mislead people into investing in dubious cryptocurrency schemes, which have been debunked by Newschecker. The fact-checks can be seen here and here, confirming that the alleged Nilekani report, too, follows the same template.
UPDATE: A similar Facebook post went viral on September 14, 2023, sharing a screenshot and link of a purported news report that states Infosys founder and billionaire businessman NR Narayana Murthy has launched a trading platform to “help people multiply their savings.”
Newschecker found that the link prompted an anti-virus alert upon clicking, raising our doubts, but not before we got a screenshot of a fake Indian Express report, dated September 14, 2023, headlined “JUST IN: Narayana Murti unveils his secret to enrich ordinary Indians”.
The viral link, through a separate browser, also led us to another dubious page, purportedly of Infosys, where there is no mention of Murthy investing in a trading platform or endorsing one, confirming that the viral Facebook post was a scam.
Conclusion
Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani did not invest $892 million in a trading platform that would “make ordinary people richer”, a viral link and Indian Express report found to be fake.
Result: False
Sources
Indian Express official website
Tweet by Nandan Nilekani, February 15, 2022
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