Infosys founders from left: Nandan Nilekani, N S Raghavan, Kris Gopalakrishnan, N R Narayana Murthy, S D Shibulal and K Dinesh. Seven co-founders, led by Murthy, set up the city-based firm in 1981. Murthy had the longest run of about 21 years as CEO before passing the baton to Nandan Nilekani and then Gopalakrishnan and S D Shibulal.