Mohandas Pai backs Narayana Murthy, says '9-9-6' remark was aimed at founders, not India’s workforce

Mohandas Pai reiterated several times that Narayana Murthy’s observation was directed at founders or early-stage teams determined to create large companies.

TV Mohandas Pai stated that NR Narayana Murthy’s remarks on extended working hours were intended for entrepreneurs, rather than people in conventional full-time roles. His comments came during an interaction with ET Now, where he emphasised that such routines must remain a matter of personal choice.

Pai, who served as Infosys Ltd.’s chief financial officer during Murthy’s tenure as chief executive, explained that Murthy’s recent endorsement of long hours corresponded only to individuals trying to build companies from scratch. “This is for a select group of innovators who want to build unicorns,” he said. According to him, routine employees were not expected to follow this pattern. “Ordinary employees are not being asked to work 70 hours (per week). Nobody is asking bank staff or people in offices to do this.”

Murthy had revisited his earlier appeal for intense work schedules during a recent interview with Republic TV, where he referred to China’s “9-9-6” practice as an example of discipline for India’s corporate environment. The term is commonly used to describe a workday running from 9am to 9pm across six days a week, amounting to roughly 72 hours weekly.

His remarks prompted immediate pushback, with critics noting that China had already ruled such work patterns unlawful in 2021 due to concerns over fatigue and the impact on workers’ health. Others highlighted that Indian employees already logged among the highest hours globally anyway. Murthy also attracted scrutiny for his position on work-life balance, having said: “get a life first and then worry about work-life balance” during the Republic TV interview.

Pai, now the chairman of Bengaluru-based venture capital firm Aarin Capital, reiterated several times that Murthy’s observation was directed at founders or early-stage teams determined to create large companies. He argued that people choosing entrepreneurship understood the pressures associated with it. “As a startup founder, you are driven by the need to build something great. If you choose to be an entrepreneur, you slug it out,” he said, adding that those in this bracket tended to view standard expectations of balance as being “overrated”. He also pointed to the sense of progress and reward that comes with sustained effort, saying, “And there’s fulfilment because you are far ahead of others.”

Responding to claims that growth should rely on more efficient systems rather than longer days, Pai argued that the two ideas were not contradictory. “Yes, smart systems matter, but you cannot ignore the fact that China and the Silicon Valley founders work extremely hard,” he said. “If Indian startups want to compete, then they must match that level of ambition.”

He stressed that adherence to long schedules remained entirely voluntary. “Nobody is compelling you (to follow 9-9-6 work culture),” Pai said. “If you want to do a 9-to-5 or work-from-home, do it. If you want to be an achiever, push yourself. This is about individual choice.”