'Only investment I have done is Rs 10,000': Sudha Murty says took a 'little bit of risk' on Narayana Murthy

Infosys started with a loan of Rs 10,000 that Sudha Murty gave her husband Narayana Murthy in 1981. Speaking at the India Today conclave, Sudha Murty said she wasn't sure if the Infosys founder would succeed.

With this in mind, Murty gave Rs 10,000 to her husband from the Rs 10,250 she had. The remaining Rs 250 she again kept aside.

"I am not good with economics, I am an engineer. I took a little bit of risk. I assumed I will write off whether he succeeds or not," she said. 

Calling himself an 'incorrigible idealist, Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy said he felt he was doing something different by keeping his wife, Sudha Murty, out of the company even though she was more qualified. 

“Those days, the standard was family-run organisations. So, therefore, I said I want to do something different in India when I returned from France,” Murthy said.“One way of doing that was not to make it a husband-wife company, even though she (Sudha) was much more qualified than all the founders. Let there be no doubt about it. So, it was an act of idealism,” he said on the decision. 

"I have no doubt in my mind that she was truly the better half," Murthy said.

Sudha Murty said her husband's decision not to include her as part of the Infosys founding team hurt her. "I loved engineering, and a couple of years it hurt me. But when I look back on life now, it is good that I did not become part as I would've retired as a technical director of Infosys. But I touched many lives through Infosys Foundation and I value it much more than any other position," Sudha Murty said.

"Being compassionate to others is more important that any position. Probably god closed one window for me, but he opened many doors," she added.