'I was "disappointed" when India shifted to 5-day workweek', says Narayan Murthy

Narayana Murthy has yet again sparked the work-life balance debate.

In a conversation with Shereen Bhan at CNBC TV18’s Global Leadership Summit, Murthy remained firm on his 70-hour work week stance.

The host asked him if he was grossly misunderstood or if he had changed his stance since then. Narayana Murthy responded by saying, “I do not believe in work-life balance.”

Quoting KV Kamath, Murthy reiterated that India is a poor country, we have a lot of challenges to solve, and we first need to get a life to even think about work-life balance.

PM Modi as a Model of Hard Work:

Murthy also followed up by bringing PM Modi’s example.

He said, “At this point of time, when PM Modi is working so hard…probably he works 100 hours a week…when his cabinet ministers are working so hard, when his bureaucrats are all working very hard, the only way we can show our appreciation for all the wonderful things that are happening is by our working hard.”

The Infosys co-founder added that he was disappointed that India moved from a 6-day week to a 5-day week in 1986. 

Murthy's Own Rigorous Work Routine Until Retirement:

Murthy used to go to the office every day at 6:20 AM and would return at 8:30 AM until he retired. He said he was working 14 hours a day for six and a half days of the week, and he was ‘proud’ of working hard. 

Murthy firmly said he has not changed his view and will take it to his grave.

The host agreed that Narayana Murthy seems very firm on his stance but that his Mrs. Murthy (his wife) might have a different opinion. To this, Murthy just smiled.

Meanwhile, according to Moneycontrol, Infosys Limited's net profit for the second quarter of FY24 increased 2.2 percent to Rs 6,506 crore from Rs 6,368 crore.

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