Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy (born 20 August 1946) is an Indian billionaire businessman. He is the founder of Infosys, and was the chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president and chief mentor of the company before retiring and becoming chairman emeritus. As of January 2025, his net worth was estimated at US$5.0 billion, according to Forbes. Murthy was born and raised in Sidlaghatta, Karnataka. He first worked at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, as chief systems programmer, and Patni Computer Systems in Pune, Maharashtra. He founded Infosys in 1981 and was the CEO from 1981 to 2002, as well as the chairman from 2002 to 2011. In 2011, he stepped down from the board and became the chairman emeritus. In June 2013, Murthy was appointed as the executive chairman for a period of five years. Murthy has been listed among the 12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time by Fortune magazine. He has been described as the "father of the Indian IT sector" by Time magazine and CNBC for his contribution to outsourcing in India. In 2005, he co-chaired the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Murthy has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan and Padma Shri awards. Murthy is the father-in-law of Rishi Sunak, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2022 to 2024.
Early life and education N. R. Narayana Murthy was born on 20 August 1946 in Sidlaghatta, a city in India's south-western state of Karnataka into a Kannada speaking middle-class Deshastha Madhva Brahmin family. After completing his school education, he went to the National Institute of Engineering and graduated in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. In 1969 he received his master's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. In 2007, Murthy received an honorary degree from Lancaster University.
Career Murthy first worked as a research associate under a faculty at IIM Ahmedabad and then later as the chief systems programmer. There he worked on India's first time-sharing computer system and designed and implemented a BASIC interpreter for Electronics Corporation of India Limited. He started a company named Softronics. When that company failed after about a year and a half, he joined Patni Computer Systems in Pune. Murthy mentions that being arrested and expelled for no good reason during the communist era 1974 in a border town near the Yugoslav-Bulgarian border, turned him into a "compassionate capitalist" from a "confused leftist/communist". In 1981 he, with six software professionals, founded Infosys with an initial capital investment of Rs 10,000, which was provided by his wife Sudha Murty. Murthy was the CEO of Infosys for 21 years from 1981 to 2002 and was succeeded by co-founder Nandan Nilekani. At Infosys he articulated, designed and implemented a global delivery model for IT services outsourcing from India. He was the chairman of the board from 2002 to 2006, after which he also became the chief mentor. In August 2011, he retired from the company, taking the title chairman emeritus.
Murthy is an independent director on the corporate board of HSBC and has been a director on the boards of DBS Bank, Unilever, ICICI and NDTV. He is also a member of the advisory boards and councils of several educational and philanthropic institutions, including Cornell University, INSEAD, ESSEC, Ford Foundation, the UN Foundation, the Indo-British Partnership, Asian Institute of Management, a trustee of the Infosys Prize, a trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and as a trustee of the Rhodes Trust. He is also the Chairman of the Governing board of Public Health Foundation of India. He is on the Asia Pacific advisory board of British Telecommunications. In June 2013, Murthy returned to Infosys as executive chairman and a director. In June 2014, he stood down as executive chairman, was non-executive chairman until October, when he became chairman emeritus. Murthy is also on the strategic board which advises the national law firm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, on strategic, policy and governance issues. He is a member of IESE's International Advisory Board (IAB). In 2010, Murthy has made an investment in SKS Microfinance along with venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.
In 2016, Murthy participated in FXC as a Board Member. In 2017, Murthy raised concerns over alleged corporate governance lapses at Infosys, however the company went on to deny these claims.
Views on working hours In late 2023, a comment by Murthy suggesting that young people should work 70 hours a week to boost national productivity sparked a widespread public debate in India. He rejected the notion of work–life balance and refused to retract his statement. In November 2024, he clarified that the remark was meant to be a matter of introspection and not debate. He stated that while he worked more than 12 hours a day for over 40 years, it was a personal choice, adding that such long hours should not be mandated. A year later, he advocated for the 996 working hour system (9:00am to 9:00pm, six days a week) in India, alleging this contributed to China's rapid growth. These comments received widespread backlash given the detrimental effects on physical and mental health the 996 system is known to have, the fact that it was outlawed by the Chinese Supreme Court in 2021, and such overwork does not provide compensation.
Personal life Murthy's wife Sudha is an educator, author, and philanthropist who has served as the chairperson of the non-profit Infosys Foundation. They have two children together: a son, Rohan, and a daughter, Akshata. From June 2013 to June 2014, Rohan Murthy joined Infosys as an executive assistant to his father. He left Infosys to create his own company called Soroco in 2014. In 2009, Akshata married British-Indian Conservative politician Rishi Sunak, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2022 to 2024.
Awards and honours
Bibliography Narayana Murthy, N. R. (2009). A better India, a better world. New Delhi, India: Penguin Books India : Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-670-08283-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link) Murthy, Narayana (2016). The Wit and Wisdom of Narayana Murthy. Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar: Hay House. ISBN 978-93-85827-02-0. Murthy, N. r Narayana (2010). A Clear Blue Sky: Stories and Poems on Conflict and Hope. Puffin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-333141-4.
References
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