Kotak's Nilesh Shah suggests 84-hour work week, economist Sanjeev Sanyal agrees. Watch

Kotak AMC CEO Nilesh Shah and economist Sanjeev Sanyal

After Infosys founder Narayana Murthy's remark on a 70-hour work week kicked up a storm on social media and ignited a debate among people, Kotak AMC CEO Nilesh Shah added to it and said that one generation of Indians should work 84 hours a week to "accelerate the country's growth". Shah, while speaking on the podcast Invest Aaj For Kal with Anant Ladha, said that working for 84 hours will also help everyone transfer to "middle and upper income levels".

"Charlie Munger wrote in one of his books that people in Korea worked 84 hours a week for one generation. That means 12 hours a day, every day, every month, every year," Shah said, adding, "Recently in India, Narayana Murthy mentioned working 70 hours a week, which created a controversy. He said that Indians need to work like Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese. If we work hard, there is no doubt that India’s growth will continue, the pace will accelerate, and there will come a time when there will be no sub-Saharan Africa-level poverty in India. We will have transferred everyone to middle-income and upper-income levels."

We need to work 12 hours per day for 365 days - Nilesh Shah sir - pic.twitter.com/tiXQSgwT5r

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— Anant Ladha, CFA CA CFP LL.B. (@anantladha25) June 1, 2024

Retweeting the post on X by Ladha, economist and writer Sanjeev Sanyal wrote, "I agree. One generation will have to put in that effort and unlike the examples mentioned, also remember to procreate. It is doable (with the occasional break). We are that generation and perhaps the next one."

I agree. One generation will have to put in that effort ….. and unlike the examples mentioned, also remember to procreate. It is doable (with the occasional break). We are that generation and perhaps the next one. https://t.co/YlnnYlQR3F

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— Sanjeev Sanyal (@sanjeevsanyal) June 1, 2024

However, social media users had mixed responses to Shah's remark and the comments section of Sanyal's post was flooded.

"Raising children properly while working 84 hour a week seems unreasonable. We seem to be doing a poor job with a 60 hour week itself," one user wrote.

Another user commented, "I'm ready to give 100-hour week. But only if 50-hour for regular job, and 50-hour for my personal work and entrepreneurship (already doing). If corporate wants 70-hour from me without increasing my salary, then I'm sorry."

"I agree, given the growth we want to make our country developed, we need to make sure we work not only hard but smart. Hours are just number for benchmark, real thing is to work with focus to create value for spiritual health, physical health and wealth of people of India," a third user remarked.

Meanwhile, Murthy's remark on a 70-hour work week and his views on work-life balance ruffled a lot of feathers last year. In order to increase's India's productivity and compete with other economies, Murthy suggested that the youth should work for at least 70 hours a week.

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Narayana Murthy, in conversation with former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai, said that India’s work productivity is among the lowest in the world. In order to compete with countries like China, India’s youngsters must put in extra hours of work – like Japan and Germany did after World War 2.