N. R. Narayana Murthy

Some Lesser Known Facts About N. R. Narayana Murthy

• N. R. Narayana Murthy is the co-founder of Infosys, a multinational corporation of India.

• Murthy was born into a lower-middle-class family in a small village of Karnataka.

• Murthy’s favourite subjects in school were Physics and Maths.

  

• His father wanted him to be a civil servant, but Murthy wanted to pursue his career in engineering. He had cleared the IIT entrance exam but was not allowed to join, as his father could not afford the fees. So, he had to join a local engineering college.

• Since there were fewer computer engineers back then, he got job offers from a number of firms and organizations such as ECIL, Telco, Air India, and IIM Ahmedabad. Murthy chose the last one i.e., IIM Ahmedabad where he was paid Rs. 800 a month.

• He worked on India’s first time-sharing computer system. He has also designed and implemented a BASIC interpreter for Electronics Corporation of India Limited.

  

• Later, he started a company ‘Softronics,’ but the company failed.

• Murthy met Sudha through a common friend, Prasanna, in Pune. Murthy and Sudha became good friends and after a few days, Murthy proposed her for marriage. While proposing he said,
  

  I want to tell you something. I am 5’4″ tall. I come from a lower-middle-class family. I can never become rich. You are beautiful, bright, intelligent and you can get anyone you want. But will you marry me?”

• Sudha liked his honesty and fixed a meeting of Murthy with her parents.

  

• Murthy reached two hours late of the decided time, wearing a bright red shirt. Sudha’s father was unimpressed by him; as he reached late.

• Murthy was almost rejected by Sudha’s father when he said that he wanted to become a politician and open an orphanage to which Sudha’s father replied,
  

  I don’t want my daughter to marry somebody who wants to become a communist and then open an orphanage when he himself didn’t have money to support his family.”

• After working hard for almost three years, in 1977, Murthy got a job of general manager at Patni Computers in Bombay (now Mumbai).

  

• Sudha’s father finally agreed for the marriage. Murthy and Sudha got married at Murthy’s home in Bangalore. It was a small ceremony in the presence of their families only. The expenditure on marriage was Rs. 800, which was shared by both of them.

  

• In 1981, Murthy, with his six partners, co-founded Infosys, with its head office in Pune with an investment of Rs. 10,000. He did not have the money for the investment so, Sudha gave him the money which she had saved for the rainy days.

• The seven founders of Infosys include N.R. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh, N. S. Raghavan, and Ashok Arora.

  

• In 1983, Infosys shifted its office to Bengaluru, Karnataka. It was in 1984 that they got their first computer and a telephone line.

• Murthy did not let his wife Sudha join Infosys earlier. In an interview, he called himself “Wrongly Idealistic” for making that decision. ^[8]NDTV According to Sudha, one of her friends had suggested that she should work with Infosys, but Murthy said husband and wife cannot work in one organisation. Sudha, in an interview, said,
  

  Murty said he did not want a husband and wife team at Infosys. I was shocked since I had the relevant experience and technical qualifications. He said, Sudha if you want to work with Infosys, I will withdraw, happily. I was pained to know that I will not be involved in the company my husband was building and that I would have to give up a job that I am qualified to do and love doing. It took me a couple of days to grasp the reason behind Murty’s request. I realized that to make Infosys a success one had to give one’s 100 per cent. One had to be focussed on it alone with no other distractions.”

• After having served as the CEO of Infosys for about 21 years, Murthy stepped down in 2002, giving away his post to Nandan Nilekani. Murthy went on to become chairman of the board, a post he quit in 2006.

• In 2002, he appeared in Zee TV’s talk show Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai.

  

• Murthy has served as an independent director on the corporate board of HSBC and director on the boards of DBS Bank, Unilever, ICICI, and NDTV. He is also a member of the advisory boards and councils of various educational and philanthropic institutes.

• In 2006, Time Magazine named him as one of the Asian heroes along with the former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, who brought about some revolutionary changes in the nation since its freedom in 1947.

• In August 2011, Murthy stepped down from Infosys chairmanship, taking the title Chairman Emeritus.

• Fortune Magazine listed Murthy as one of the ’12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time in 2012.’ The list was topped by Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple.

• In 2019, Sanjay Tripathy announced that he will make a Bollywood film on the life of N. R. Narayana Murthy.

• Narayana Murthy’s suggestion for young Indians to work 70 hours per week to boost national productivity sparked a social media debate. Some well-known entrepreneurs, including Bhavish Aggarwal, Ashneer Grover, and Harsh Goenka, shared their perspectives. While some supported Murthy’s idea, others raised concerns about the potential health and other issues related to such long working hours. ^[9]India Today

  

• In March 2024, he gifted shares worth over Rs. 240 crores to his four-month-old grandson Ekagrah Rohan Murty, reducing Narayana Murthy’s share in Infosys to 0.36 per cent from 0.40 per cen.