Can't demand long hours at work, but one must introspect the need for it: Narayana Murthy

Mumbai: Infosys Co-Founder NRN Narayana Murthy, whose advice to youngsters to work 70 hours a week caused a stir, on Monday 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, 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 here.

"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," 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.

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, 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 per cent of Indians still depend on free foodgrains every month, underlining that such stark poverty is not an attribute of an economically strong country.

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, 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, Murthy said, making it clear that corporations cannot succeed in societies that fail.