Author, engineer, philanthropist and now a Padma Bhushan awardee – Sudha Murty has juggled many roles and, as such, knows a thing or two about life in the limelight. In a recent interview with NDTV, the recipient of India’s third-highest civilian award spoke about facing controversies, balancing family and career as a woman, the importance of money and more.
Sudha Murty is married to Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy. She was, in fact, one of the company’s first backers - Murty gave her husband a loan of Rs 10,000 to start Infosys back in 1981. With her son-in-law Rishi Sunak’s appointment as the prime minister of the UK last year, the family’s personal lives faced increased public scrutiny.
In her interview, Sudha Murty offered some pointers on dealing with the pressures of public life.
“People who are in the limelight, they will always have controversy,” she said. She advised her family – husband Narayana Murthy, daughter Akshata and son-in-law Rishi Sunak – to “be morally and ethically right, and work sincerely.”
Murty, 72, served as chairperson of the Infosys Foundation for over two decades during which she oversaw the Foundation’s wide-ranging philanthropic efforts. When Murty set up the foundation in 1996, they started with an annual grant of Rs 32 lakh from Infosys. Today, the philanthropic arm of Infosys has a corpus of over Rs 400 crore and has positively impacted the lives of millions with its initiatives.
Infosys, meanwhile, has grown to become one of the world’s largest IT companies with a market capitalisation of around $80 billion since its humble beginning in 1981.
Murty addressed the issue of wealth in her interview, noting that money is very important as it allows one to help others. For her own self, Murty says she would have been happy with a small house and a scooter, had Infosys not become the roaring success it is today.
“Status is all about mindset... Money is very important in life, because then you can help more people. [But] what is there to show off in wealth? There were rich people before me, and [will be] after me,” she told NDTV.
On why she gave Narayana Murthy Rs 10,000 to start Infosys, she added, “I gave it to him for his dream. In case it wasn't successful, we would have gone back to my house. All I wanted was a two-bedroom house and a scooter.”
