'India's administration is all about...': Narayana Murthy backs management-driven bureaucratic overhaul

Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy has backed Donald Trump’s decision to appoint Tesla’s Elon Musk and Indian-American businessman Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a commission focused on streamlining government operations. 

“Reducing government, reducing latency of action, reducing fat, reducing inefficiency—they are good, whether it’s America or India,” Murthy said, highlighting his belief in cutting inefficiencies across borders.

At the CNBC-TV18 Global Leadership Summit, Murthy emphasized that India needs a shift from an "administrative mindset" to a "management mindset" in governance to meet ambitious economic targets and drive innovation. 

“The administration is all about the status quo. On the other hand, management is all about vision and high aspiration. It's about achieving the plausibly impossible," he stated, advocating for bringing management skills into government roles to foster "speed, imagination, and excellence" in decision-making and policy implementation.

Murthy urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider integrating candidates from management schools into civil services.

He proposed that selected candidates could receive specialized training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy, focusing on crucial skills like "decision-making under uncertainty," "strategic thinking," and "project management." 

With formal management training, these recruits could excel as sectoral experts, providing long-term, solutions-driven contributions in fields like agriculture, defense, and infrastructure.

According to Murthy, this change could transform India’s public governance by incorporating qualities such as “cost control,” “quick implementation,” and “confidence building,” critical to driving the nation's economic ambitions.