Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy. File
| Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar

Infosys co-founder NRN Narayana Murthy, whose advice to youngsters to work 70 hours a week caused a stir, on Monday (January 20, 2025) said no one can ask people to put in long hours, but it is for everybody to “introspect” and understand the need for it.

Underlining that he has put in over 70 hours a week for 40-odd years during his time at Infosys, Mr. Murthy said these are issues that need to be introspected on, and not debated.

“I can say that I used to get to the office at 6:30 AM and leave at 8:30 PM, that’s a fact. I have done it. So, nobody can say that no, that’s wrong.

“And I have done it for 40-odd years,” he said, replying to a question on work-life balance after delivering the annual ‘Kilachand Memorial Lecture’ at the IMC in Mumbai.

“These are not issues that should be discussed and debated. These are issues that one can introspect on, one can ingest and one can come to some conclusion and do whatever they want,” he added.

“There is nobody who can say ‘you should do it, you should not do it,” Mr. Murthy said amid a heightened conversation on the topic which only got amplified with Larsen and Toubro Chairman S N Subrahmanyan’s recent remarks asking employees to put in 90 hours a week.

Mr. Murthy said one’s choices on the efforts that he or she needs to put in have to be guided by the reality of a poor child and whether his or her efforts, or the lack of it, makes the future better for the child or not.

“That child can only be better off if I work hard, if I work smart, if I produce more revenue, if I pay more taxes,” Murthy said.

Earlier, in the lecture, Mr. Murthy borrowed from German sociologist Max Weber’s work and said he believes that decent and hardworking people with high aspirations, some smartness, much hard work, discipline and good values create successful nations despite all the odds.

He said 60% of Indians still depend on free foodgrains every month, underlining that such stark poverty is not an attribute of an economically strong country.

Mr. Murthy also said greedy behaviour by corporates has led to people losing faith in capitalism by making them feel that free markets are tools for the rich to get richer at the expense of public welfare, and exhorted fellow leaders of India Inc to “repair” the situation.

To a question on the extravagant lifestyle of some corporate leaders, Mr. Murthy said he is no one to suggest one way or the other if no law of the land is broken or if an individual exercises the right to spend his well-earned money.

Civilised societies are ones where life is made better for the next generation, and corporate leaders have to follow compassionate capitalism for long-term good.

“Compassionate capitalism is about fairness, transparency, integrity, accountability and putting the interest of the society ahead of one’s own interest,” he said.

“We need compassionate capitalism for the very survival of the rich, and the powerful and their progenies,” Mr. Murthy said, making it clear that corporations cannot succeed in societies that fail.

Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and his wife Sudha Murthy secured the fifth spot on Bengaluru’s richest families list, according to the recently released Hurun India Rich List 2024.

When we think of Infosys, the first name that comes to mind is Narayana Murthy. But did you know that the IT firm was co-founded by Mr Murthy and six others? According to the recently released Hurun India Rich List 2024, Narayana Murthy is not the richest Infosys co-founder.

As per the list, while Narayana and Sudha Murty secured the fifth spot on the list of Bengaluru’s wealthiest families, with a net worth of Rs 36,600 crores, it was his co-founder Senapathy ‘Kris’ Gopalkrishna who surpassed him with a fortune of Rs 38,500 crore. 

Mr Gopalkrishna served as the CEO and Managing Director of the IT giant from 2007 to 2011. He even served as the Vice Chairman of the company from 2011 to 2014. He retired from the company in 2014 and since his retirement, he has invested in a slew of startups, such as Ki Mobility, a provider of automobile services, both through his business incubator Axilor Ventures and some venture funds.

Now, the 69-year-old is the Chairman of Axilor Ventures, a startup accelerator that has invested in several companies including GoodHome, Kaagaz and EnKash.

Mr Gopalkrishna has a master’s degree in physics and computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. 

In January 2011, the Government of India awarded Mr Gopalkrishna the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third highest civilian honour.

He’s funded the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Research Center, named after his wife, at IIT Madras.

He serves on the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIIT, Bangalore, and is also on the Board of Trustees of the Chennai Mathematical Institute, as per the Infosys website. 

Meanwhile, Infosys, established in July 1981 in Pune but presently based in Bengaluru, was co-founded by seven engineers, including Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, Kris Gopalakrishnan, SD Shibulal, K Dinesh, NS Raghavan, and Ashok Arora.