Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, took the stage at the Kalichand Memorial Lecture in Mumbai to share a personal journey and his vision for “Compassionate Capitalism.”
Reflecting on his life, Murthy recounted a pivotal moment in 1974—a lonely, hungry, and cold 21-hour journey in a freight train from Nis (now Serbia) to Istanbul during his hitchhiking trip back to India after working in Paris.
“The question of stark poverty and inequity in our country has been troubling me right from that day when I spent lonely, hungry, cold, angry, and introspective 21 hours in the goods compartment on a freight train from Nis in now Serbia to Istanbul, way back in 1974 on my hitchhiking trip, returning back to India after my job in Paris,” said Narayan Murthy in his speech.
Murthy pointed to his own life and work as proof of how entrepreneurship can address poverty. “I have had some success in demonstrating the power of entrepreneurship in solving the problem of poverty through my experiment of creating Infosys,” he said.
However, his optimism is tempered by the challenges that remain. “There is not a single day when I do not feel confused, helpless, agitated, and motivated that our leaders will find a solution to this problem.”
Murthy has long been vocal about the role of discipline and hard work in driving societal change. “My parents told me the only way I could escape the orbit of poverty was through honesty, discipline, and good work ethic,” he shared.
He stressed that putting the community’s interests above personal gains ultimately leads to personal betterment.
Murthy recently stirred controversy by suggesting that Indian youth commit to longer working hours, drawing inspiration from post-war Japan and Germany. “With a per-capita income of $2,300, India is a poor country. To become a middle-income country, it will take 16 to 18 years even with an 8% growth rate,” he said, advocating for a return to a six-day workweek to enhance productivity.
Born in 1946 in Sidlaghatta, Karnataka, Murthy’s rise began with degrees in Electrical Engineering from NIE Mysore and IIT Kanpur. Rejecting lucrative jobs, he became Chief Systems Programmer at IIM Ahmedabad, working on India’s first time-sharing computing system under Professor J. Krishnayya. In 1981, he co-founded Infosys, a company that would revolutionize India’s tech industry and contribute significantly to its economic growth.
