Narayana Murthy said he realised the only way a country can fight poverty is by creating jobs
Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has defended his 70-hour workweek comment, again. During a visit to Kolkata, which Mr Murthy described as "the most cultured place in the entire country", he said young people have to realise that "we have to work hard and work towards making India number one."
"At Infosys, I said we will go to the best and compare ourselves with the best global companies. Once we compare ourselves with the best global companies, I can tell you we Indians have a lot to do. We have to set our aspirations high because 800 million Indians get free ration. That means 800 million Indians are in poverty. If we are not in a position to work hard, then who will work hard?" Mr Murthy said at the Indian Chamber of Commerce centenary launch. He was speaking to RPSG Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka.
Recalling the experiences that motivated him to become an entrepreneur, Mr Murthy said he was at one point a Leftist, when Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister and the Indian Institutes of Technology were made into a reality.
"My father used to talk about the extraordinary progress that was happening in the country at the time and we were all sold on Nehru and socialism. I had the opportunity to work in Paris in the early 70s and I was confused. The West was talking about how filthy and corrupt India was. In my country there was poverty and the roads had potholes.
"There (West), everyone was reasonably prosperous and trains ran on time and I thought this can't be wrong. I met the leader of the French Communist Party and he answered all my questions, but not to my satisfaction.
"I realised the only way a country can fight poverty is by creating jobs that lead to disposable incomes. The government has absolutely no role in entrepreneurship. I also realised entrepreneurs build a nation as they create jobs, they create wealth for their investors and they pay taxes.
"Therefore, if a country embraces capitalism, it will create good roads, good trains and good infrastructure. In a poor country like India where capitalism had not taken roots, I realised if I had to come back and experiment in entrepreneurship, then we have to embrace compassionate capitalism," Mr Murthy said.
He said he was always excited to come to Kolkata. "In some way, this is the most cultured place in the entire country. When I think of Kolkata, I think of Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray, Subhash Chandra Bose, Amartya Sen and a host of other personalities."
"I am very proud of the culture of our country which goes over 4,000 years. It shows how unbelievably generous this culture was... Embrace compassionate capitalism. It is practising capitalism while combining it with the best aspects of liberalism and socialism so that this country stands steadily as a stellar example of capitalism," Mr Murthy said.
"Human beings can think and express. When God has given us the ability to think and this behoves us to think about people less fortunate than us. It is to make sure that the rest of the world respects India. The rest of the world respects India for performance. Performance leads to recognition, recognition leads to respect, respect leads to power. I wanted youngsters to know that we have a greater responsibility to fulfil the vision of our founding fathers. That's the reason why we all have to work hard.
"A gentleman here told me a Chinese worker is 3.5 times more productive than an Indian. It is very easy for us to write all kinds of nonsense and remain wretched, filthy and poor and shunned by the world. Therefore, I don't think we should say we are all comfortable and I will not go to the office. My request to all the people assembled here is to dedicate their lives to realising their value," the billionaire said.