Narayana Murthy says he was 'wrongly idealistic' to not allow wife Sudha Murty work at Infosys

Infosys co-founder and former CEO Narayana Murthy expressed regret over his decision in the 1980s to not let his wife Sudha Murty join Infosys by stating that family members should not join enterprises launched by a fellow family member.

Murthy said that he has changed his position now.

"I was wrong. Now I don’t believe in this. I think what I was doing those days was wrong. I was wrongly idealistic and in some ways, I think, I was influenced a lot by the environment of those days," Murthy told CNBC-TV18.

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In 2023, Murthy's candid remark that the youth of the nation should work at least 70 hours a week to boost the country's cumulative work productivity, had caused spirited debate in and beyond the internet.

Murthy also explained why he believes that working70 hours a week is right.

Murthy told CNBC-TV18, "I rationalised it this way. If anybody has performed much better than me in their own field, not necessarily in my field, I would respect, I would call them, and I would say, where do you think I was wrong in saying this? But I didn't find it. A lot of my Western friends, a lot of NRIs, and a lot of good people in India called me, and without exception, they were all very happy. They all said whether it is 70 or 60, that's not the issue."

Further emphasisingon the issue hesaid, "The issue is that we have to work hard in this country because the poor farmer works very hard. You know, the poor factory worker works very hard. So, therefore, those of us who received education at a huge discount, thanks to the subsidy from the government for all this education. In my case, I got a scholarship, right from the university. So we owe it to the less fortunate citizens of India to work extremely hard."

(With inputs from agencies)