Narayana Murthy clarifies on 70-hour workweek: it’s a choice
Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, whose call for a 70-hour work week had sparked a massive row, has now said it’s a personal choice, no one should impose long work hours on another person.

Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, whose call for a 70-hour work week had sparked a massive row, has now said it’s a personal choice, no one should impose long work hours on another person and stressed that these are issues not for debate, but for introspection.
"I can say that I used to get to the office at 6.20 am and I used to leave at 8.30 pm. That's a fact, I have done it. Nobody can say no, that's wrong. I have done it for 40-odd years. I think 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. That's all to it. There's nobody who can say, you should do it, you should not do it, no," Murthy said at the Kilachand Memorial Lecture in Mumbai yesterday.
The 78-year-old former tech boss had earlier said India's young workforce has to embrace hard work if they want the country to realise its full potential on the global stage.
During a podcast in October 2023, Murthy said, "India's work productivity is one of the lowest in the world. Unless we improve our work productivity, unless we reduce corruption in the government at some level, because we have been reading, I don't know the truth of it, unless we reduce the delays in our bureaucracy in taking this decision, we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress. So, therefore, my request is that our youngsters say 'this is my country. I'd like to work 70 hours a week'." He cited examples of the Germans and Japanese during World War 2.
The remarks had sparked a massive row as a section of social media users said such a remark from an industry leader will lead to exploitation of employees and stressed on the need for work-life balance. Many pointed out that expecting such work output from entry level employees with low wages was unfair, while others said the focus should be on quality, and not quantity, of work.
What's Your Reaction?






