Even if you are most intelligent guy, you need to work hard: Narayana Murthy

NR Narayana Murthy

Industry leader N R Narayana Murthy on Thursday said that he stands by his remarks on the 70-hour work weeks. Narayana Murthy also said that PM Modi also works 100 hours a week. Murthy, who demitted executive position in the company in 2014, said he was disappointed when Infosys shifted to a five-day week in 1986, but added that he himself used to put in 14-hour work days for six and half days of week till he retired. ”I think in this country, we have to work very hard because there is no substitute for hard work. Even if you are the most intelligent guy, you need to work hard. So therefore, I am sorry, I have not changed my view,” Murthy said at the CNBC-TV18 Global Leadership Summit.

Asked about his controversial comment on the 70-hour work weeks, Murthy said he stands by the remarks."I don't believe in work-life balance."

"I don't believe in work-life balance," declares Infosys' Narayana Murthy as he defends his infamous '70-hour work-week' comment while talking to Shereen Bhan at CNBC TV18's Global Leadership Summit#CNBCTV18GLS #CNBCTV18at25 #cnbctv18digital @ShereenBhan pic.twitter.com/Hcrej8DUkw
CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18News) November 14, 2024

Meanwhile,Narayana Murthy also suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi can consider tapping civil servants from management schools, rather than depending on UPSC examination to improve the overall delivery of public services.

This will be part of a shift in the national character from an administrative mindset to making it management oriented, Murthy said at an event organised by CNBC TV18 here. The management orientation is all about vision, high aspiration, achieving the plausibly impossible, cost control, raising the confidence of people and making things happen quickly, whereas the administrative approach lays a stress on status quo, Murthy said. ”Maybe Prime Minister Modi, who has done a brilliant job so far in terms of accelerating our economy, may want to look at whether we need more managers in the government rather than administrators,” he said. The government needs to tap management schools for the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) talent rather than the present system where the candidates appear for the highly competitive exam conducted by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) by giving an examination in three or four subjects, Murthy said. Once a candidate is selected, he or she will be taken to Mussoorie (where the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy Of Administration is located) for a training, where he or she will be trained in specialised sector agriculture, defence or manufacturing, which is a departure from the current practice of creating a general administrators, Murthy said.

The successful candidates will become subject matter experts once the training is over and serve the country in their respective field for 30-40 years, Murthy said. He said the administrative approach has its roots in 1858, when the East India Company transferred the dominion to the British crown, and the objectives of the then civil servants was to go slow because the natives were to be kept under control and delay implementation.

”I hope India becomes a nation that is more management-orientated than just administration orientated,” the Infosys co-founder said, making a plea for changing the mindset of people. The managers can get speed, imagination and excellence in decision making, and also in implementation in the public governance system, he added. Making an oblique reference to the setback faced by the government with the recent attempts at codifying lateral entry, Murthy said he hopes the Opposition will not have ”much objection” to such a shift like they recently did. Citing his conversation with a retired Cabinet Secretary of UK, Murthy said evolving with the times has helped Britain deliver timely services to the population.

Murthy also suggested appointing intellectuals serving the private sector as chairpersons of committees at par with the rank of a cabinet minister, and approve every major decision to be taken by the minister and the bureaucracy. There is a need to reduce government, reduce latency of action, reduce fat and reduce inefficiency in any country, he said.

*With Agency Inputs