Karnataka IT minister on Narayana Murthy's 70-hour work week advice: 'Can't run sweat shops'

Karnataka's IT Minister Priyank Kharge disagreed with NR Narayana Murthy's work on Indian youngsters needing to work 70 hours every week to improve the overall work productivity.

The past week has seen a lot of buzz and reactions to Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy's suggestion that Indian youngsters must work 70 hours every week to improve the country's overall productivity.

The latest to weigh in on the issue was Karnataka's Information Technology Minister Priyank Kharge, who said everyone was entitled to their own opinion but he would prioritise productivity over number of hours spent by an employee at a workplace.

"To each his own. It's different strokes for different folks. As a minister, I would concentrate on productivity. If you are being productive in seven hours, I don't mind."

"And if you intend to put your other seven hours to ensure that your productivity increases and it helps the department or the ministry, you are welcome to do it. But we cannot force somebody to do this (put in 70 hours). You cannot run sweat shops," Kharge told The Times of India.

Kharge was the latest to disagree with Murthy's views after RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka also did not echo his views and said that it did not matter if an employee worked for 50 hours or 70 hours and a professional had to be measured on factors such as ambition, purpose and productivity.

Other leading figures from different industries such as JSW's Sajjan Jindal and Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty had earlier agreed with Murthy's views. The Infosys founder had made the suggestion on the opening episode of the 3one4 Capital’s ‘The Record’ podcast.