'Indian women have been...': Edelweiss Mutual Fund's Radhika Gupta on Narayana Murthy's 'work 70 hours a week' comment

Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy has created quite the stir on social media with his recent "work 70 hours a week" remark. While some have agreed with the Infosys founder's take on work culture in India, others have a mixed reaction to it. Edelweiss Mutual Fund MD and CEO Radhika Gupta shared how many Indian women have been working way more than 70 hours a week as they juggle between their offices and homes in her post on X (formerly Twitter).

Narayana Murthy said on a recent podcast with former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai that youngsters will have to work 12-hour-long days for the country to catch with economies such as China that have progressed tremendously in the past 2-3 decades. He also said that India's productivity is among the lowest in the world.

She said that women have been doing this for ages without any demand for overtime. "Between offices and homes, many Indian women have been working more than 70 hour weeks to build India (through our week) and the next generation of Indians (our children). For years and decades. With a smile, and without a demand for overtime. Funnily, no one has debated about us on Twitter," Gupta wrote in her post.

Radhika Gupta's post augured well with social media users as most of them empathised with the hard work that women put in while managing their careers and homes together. "This is the thing which I love about Indian women. After working 6-8 hours in the workplace to manage family with full dedication (sic)," a user said.

"Very much agree... I'm married to one such lady. She has been managing all these for the last 18+ years when we had our son. A best employee at work, and best at everything, however it does take a toll on her at times but she comes back with rigor. I'm privileged," another user said. "You have made a very valid point. Narayana Murthy could do it because Sudha Murty took a back seat and managed home and children. The case of Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan also comes to mind," another user wrote.

"Well said! Working towards building India doesn't necessarily mean working only for employer. Future of any country is children, Taking care of them, raising them as responsible humans is not only important to one's own family but for the entire country, collectively," yet another noted. "Even without office, women in India have been working over 72 hours a week to feed the family. In our home, preparation for the lunch would start before the last member finished the breakfast and so on. Mother was the first person to get up in the morning and the last one to go to bed," a user stated.

Also Read: 'Wonder why young people are getting heart attacks': Bengaluru cardiologist shares his take on Narayana Murthy's 'work 70 hours a week' advice