Narayana Murthy 'worked 80-90 hours a week': Sudha Murty on ongoing '70 hours-a-week' debate

Sudha Murty, Infosys Foundation chairperson and author, has waded into the ongoing social media fracas after her husband and Infosys founder Narayana Murthy sparked a social media furore over his "70 hours-a-week" work advice to youngsters. Murty said that the Infosys founder himself has worked for 80-90 hours a week and that he believes in real hard work.

"He has worked 80 to 90 hours a week, so he doesn't know what less than that is. He believes in real hard work and he lived like that. Hence, he has told what he felt," Murty told News18. When asked if she tried telling him how things work in corporate India these days, she said that people have different ways of expression but Narayana Murthy has worked long hours and shared his experience.

Narayana Murthy triggered a fierce debate on social media with his take on the productivity of Indian youngsters. Murthy had said in a recent podcast that youngsters will have to work 12 hours every day so that India is able to catch up with countries that have performed tremendously in the past 2-3 decades. He added that India's productivity is among the lowest in the world.

"So, therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say, 'This is my country. I'd like to work 70 hours a week,' " Murthy had said in the podcast. He also said that youngsters must put in more work hours like Japan and Germany did after World War II to compete with the likes of China.

Also Read: 'India's youth should work 70 hours a week': Narayana Murthy's remark on productivity leaves internet divided

"And that transformation has to come to youngsters because youngsters from a significant majority of our population at this point of time, and they are the ones who can build our country," he further said. Murthy further said that India's working population needs to change to that of "highly determined, extremely disciplined and extremely hard-working people".

Murthy's comments caused quite the uproar on social media, with doctors and some corporate professionals pressing for productivity above working hours and others supporting Murthy's take on India's work culture. Edelweiss Mutual Fund MD and CEO Radhika Gupta highlighted how Indian women work way more than 70 hours a week as they manage their careers along with their families in her recent social media post. She added that women do all of this with a smile and without demanding any overtime but there is no debate about that on social media.

Dr Deepak Krishnamurthy, a Bengaluru-based cardiologist, was not impressed by the veteran industrialist's take on work-life balance. Dr Krishnamurthy explained the long-term health efforts of unreasonable working hours in a long post on X. He said that unreasonable working hours can cause a host of health problems such as heart attacks among young people.

Also Read: 'Not just 70, more like 140': Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal bats for Infosys founder Narayana Murthy’s work hours outlook

Also Read: Sudha Murty to young entrepreneurs: 'Difficult to deal with a more successful man, they are not normal'