Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has said that he now regrets his decision to keep his family out of the company. Murthy, who co-founded Infosys in 1981 with Rs 10,000 borrowed from his wife Sudha Murty, never allowed her to join the firm even though he believed that she was more qualified than the other co-founders.
"I had this feeling that good corporate governance means not bringing family into it," he told CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan when asked why he did not let his wife, who gave him the seed money, join Infosys.
"Because those days, it was only family-owned, all kinds of children used to come and run the company. There used to be violations of all laws," he was quoted as saying in the CNBC-TV18 interview.
The veteran entrepreneur, however, said a few years ago, he was having a long discussion with a couple of professors of philosophy from two well-known universities, who told him he was 'wrong' in doing so.
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"I think what I was doing those days was wrong. I was wrongly idealistic. And in some way, I was influenced a lot by the environment of those days," Murthy, 77, said in the interview.
When asked if his son Rohan Murty, a Harvard scholar, tomorrow says he wants to join Infosys, Murthy said: "He is more stricter than I am. He will never say this."
Rohan Murty, 40, a PhD from Harvard University, is the founder of Soroco, a data-based software firm that helps convert data into meaningful information, helping organisations address work patterns across teams.
“First of all, I am just a shareholder in Infosys. I have not been consulted on any issue in Infosys since August 2017. It’s the right thing. He’s (Rohan) doing the way we all did. So, apart from being the largest shareholder family of Infosys, we have nothing else to do with Infosys."
Murthy served as the CEO of Infosys, the country's second-largest tech firm, for 21 years from 1981 to 2002. He was the chairman of the board from 2002 to 2006. In August 2011, Murthy retired from the firm, taking the title of Chairman Emeritus. However, in June 2013, Murthy was appointed as Executive Chairman of the Board. It was during this stint that Murthy's son Rohan worked as his executive assistant.