'Junta got offended because...': Here's what Ashneer Grover said on Narayana Murthy’s 70-hour work week comment

Ashneer Grover, former Managing Director of BharatPe and Shark Tank India judge, on Friday reacted to Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy's now viral remark, which suggested that the youth of India should be prepared to work 70 hours a week so that the country can compete with economies that have made tremendous progress in the last two to three decades.

"India's work productivity is one of the lowest in the world," Murthy said while speaking to former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai for a podcast, The Record. He said unless the country improves its work productivity, it will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress.

"Therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say, ‘This is my country. I’d like to work 70 hours a week'," Murthy said, adding that this is exactly what the Germans and Japanese did after the Second World War. "They made sure that every German worked extra hours for a certain number of years."

Reacting to Murthy's statement, Grover said, "I think junta got offended here because work is still being measured in ‘hours’ than ‘outcome’. The other thing is people feeling as if youngster’s laziness is only thing keeping India from becoming developed."

"Funny - getting offended unites us more than cricket, religion, caste or language," Grover stated.

Murthy's comments did not go down well with many social media users as they accused him of promoting slavery culture. However, many people supported his views.

For instance, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal backed his take and said it is not the time to work less and entertain ourselves.

"Totally agree with Mr Murthy's views. It's not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it's our moment to go all in and build in 1 generation what other countries have built over many generations!," he said.

Meanwhile, former Infosys CFO TV Mohandas Pai came down heavily on a critic after he compared Infosys founder's comment on Indian youngsters working 70 hours a week to Indian sweatshop attitude.

Also Read: TV Mohandas Pai supports Narayana Murthy's '70-hour workweek' comment, shuts down critic