Nilekani says digital assets must reach millions as AI changes the way we work

Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and chairman of Infosys, said tokenisation needs to move beyond creating digital tokens and towards building systems that can deliver tokenised assets reliably at population scale.

Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest 2026, Nilekani pointed to growing interest in tokenisation among major banks, mutual funds and companies globally, but said the bigger challenge was building the infrastructure needed to make the technology work at scale.

Tokenisation needs to go beyond digital tokens

Tokenisation allows assets and their rules to be represented digitally. In principle, the terms attached to an asset can travel with the digital token as it moves through financial systems.

But creating a token is only the first step, Nilekani said. The focus also needs to be on how tokenised assets will be used and whether they can be delivered to users reliably and on time.

That means building tokenisation infrastructure that can support millions of users and a wide range of financial transactions, rather than limiting the technology to individual use cases.

The push is part of a broader expansion of digital financial infrastructure, with cryptography forming a key part of tokenisation. Nilekani also praised the Reserve Bank of India’s AI rulebook as regulators try to keep pace with the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence.

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Can AI level the playing field?

Nilekani also linked AI agents with tokenisation, saying the combination could help narrow the gap between large companies and smaller businesses.

The emphasis, he said, should be on building systems that can reach everyone rather than allowing the benefits of new technologies to remain concentrated among large institutions and companies.

At the same time, AI’s impact on employment remains a major concern. Large companies could use AI to reduce the number of workers needed for certain tasks, while the millions of smaller businesses that employ people across a wider range of functions could be less exposed.

Start-ups could create the jobs AI displaces

That means responding to AI-driven disruption cannot be limited to protecting existing jobs, Nilekani said. The economy will also need to create new businesses and employment opportunities, putting entrepreneurs and start-ups at the centre of the transition.

Start-ups could become an important source of future jobs, making it increasingly important to build an ecosystem that supports entrepreneurship and allows new businesses to emerge and grow.

Nilekani’s broader argument was that tokenisation and AI should not be viewed simply as new technologies. The opportunity is to use them to build digital systems that can reach more people while creating new avenues for economic activity and employment.