Infosys founder Narayana Murthy encourages 70-hour workweek for Indian youngsters

Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys, has stunned everyone by stating that India’s work culture needs to change and that the young workforce needs to work 70 hours a week to make India a global superpower.

In an exclusive interview with Mohandas Pai on 3One4 Capital’s podcast “The Record”, Murthy pointed out that there needs to be an increase in production in India.

He encourages practices such as improving work productivity and reducing corruption in government. He also showed his dissatisfaction with delays in bureaucratic work. Murthy feels that these issues should be tackled in order to compete with other developed countries. He requests the youth keep the mindset, “This is my country and I want to work 70 hours a week”.

He compared India’s work culture with that of Germany and Japan after World War II. He stated that the young people of India should be disciplined and improve work productivity. He stated, “Every government would be as good as the culture adopted by its people”. He feels that Indians need to adopt the culture of highly determined, extremely disciplined, and extremely hard-working people.

Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola Cabs, shares his opinion

Murthy’s comments were welcomed with some harsh criticism, but Ola Cabs co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal came in support of Murthy on social media platform X by sharing his views on the matter. He stated that Indians cannot afford to work less in this era and need to go all in to convert the country into a superpower in this generation.

Ronnie Screwvala, founder of upGrad, takes a different stand

Ronnie Screwvala disagreed with Narayana Murthy, stating that productivity is not just about increasing working hours. He further stated that people just need to be better at what they do by learning dynamic skills and promoting a positive work environment. He also felt that the younger generation should be paid fairly. “Quality of work done > clocking in more hours”.