
In a recent interaction at the India Today Conclave, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy acknowledged that his wife, Sudha Murthy, was more qualified than him and explained the reason for not including her in the startup team of Infosys.
Murthy admitted, “Right from day one, it was very clear that she was so much superior to me… She had got a scholarship to the best technology university in the world to do her PhD. So therefore I had no doubt in my mind that she was truly the better half.”
When asked if he regretted not making Sudha a part of the Infosys startup team, Murthy responded, by saying “Well, life is all about learning and improving."
He further added, "Those days I was an incorrigible idealist. Those days the standard was family-run organizations, husband and wife, father and son, father and daughter, etc. So therefore I said, having returned from France, I said I want to do something different in India and therefore I thought one way of doing it is not to make a husband and wife company, even though she was much more qualified than all the founders, let there be no doubt about it. So it was an act of idealism."
Sudha Murthy expressed that she was hurt for not being a part of the startup team. “Yeah, of course, because I loved engineering and a couple of years it had hurt me, maybe two to three years. I felt it I wish I could have been.”
However, looking back, Sudha feels that not being a part of Infosys was a blessing in disguise. "But when I look back in life now, good I did not become part because I would have retired as a technical director of Infosys probably. But I touched many lives in real life through Infosys Foundation.
She further added, "I value it much more than any other position. So I feel helping others, and being compassionate to others is more important than any position. Maybe God closed one window for me, but he opened many doors."
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