The co-founder of Infosys NR Narayana Murthy, stated on Wednesday that the industry should operate in three shifts rather than one and that governments should prioritize finishing infrastructure projects. He noted that people work two shifts in other aspirational nations.
Murthy spoke with Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha, on Wednesday at the Bengaluru Tech Summit. Kamath asked the IT pioneer to explain to him what Bengaluru, the epicenter of India’s high-tech industry, needed to do in the next five to ten years to improve as a city.
He stressed that people in the infrastructure industry should work three shifts, stating, “They should not work just one shift, come at 11 am, ten people sitting there, and then leave at 5 pm, at least on the Electronics City Road. That’s what I see. I may be completely wrong,” said Murthy in the statement.
“Elsewhere in the nation with high aspirations, people work — I have seen two shifts because I would return around midnight. And I’ve seen people working as if they’re going to disappear tomorrow morning. So, while I cannot vouch for three shifts there, I can vouch for two shifts,” he further added.
Furthermore, Murthy mentioned three things: infrastructure development, prompt government decision-making, and English-medium schools to attract skilled personnel for the city’s software sector. According to him, Bengaluru accounts for roughly 35–37% of India’s overall software exports. “So what it means is that you are looking at about 75 billion dollars from just Bengaluru if you look at 200 billion dollar total exports from India.”
A discussion was recently triggered by the IT veteran’s statement that “youngsters should work 70 hours a week if India wants to compete with economies that have made tremendous progress in the last two to three decades.”
In response to a question about what he believed the city should be doing right and wrong, Murthy stated, “So the first task of a good public governance system for Bengaluru to become even stronger is—we have to provide total freedom to start English medium schools.”
He claimed that he had never met any influential people who had not enrolled their kids in English-medium schools. “Everyone has enrolled their kids in English-medium schools. Not a single influential person that I have encountered has sent their kids to Kannada-medium schools.”
Murthy further emphasized that although China’s GDP is 19 trillion, India’s is only approximately $3.5 trillion. Nevertheless, he predicted that India would eventually overtake China and catch up. “But that requires taking quick decisions and making sure that all hurdles for entrepreneurs are removed as if there is no tomorrow.”
