Narayana Murthy’s “Youngsters should work 70 hours a week” statement receives mixed responses

Co-founder and former CEO of Infosys,  Narayana Murthy's statements when he appeared on 3one4 Capital’s podcast have had a mixed response on the internet. He talked about gaps in India’s work culture that result in India lagging behind in its developmental goals. “We need to be disciplined and improve our work productivity. I think unless we do that, what can the poor government do? And every government is as good as the culture of the people. And our culture has to change to that of highly determined, extremely disciplined and extremely hard-working people, And that transformation has to come to youngsters because youngsters form a significant majority of our population at this point of time, and they are the ones who can build our country, transformation has to come from youngsters because youngsters form a significant majority of our population at this point of time, and they are the ones who can build our country,” he stated in the podcast. 

He made a proposition that youngsters should work for 70 hours a week.”So, my request is that our youngsters must say, 'This is my country. I'd like to work 70 hours a week.This is exactly what the Germans and Japanese did after the Second World War. They made sure that every German worked extra hours for a certain number of years,” he said. 

This statement received mixed reactions. “Totally agree with Mr Murthy’s views. It’s not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it’s our moment to go all in and build in 1 generation what other countries have built over many generations,” CEO of Ola Cars Bhavish Aggarwal said. Othera however pointed out the difference in pay scales in these countries in comparison to India and the pressure this would extend on working women across the country.

Totally agree with Mr Murthy’s views. It’s not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it’s our moment to go all in and build in 1 generation what other countries have built over many generations! https://t.co/KsXQbjAhSM

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash)

Totally agree with Mr Murthy’s views. It’s not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it’s our moment to go all in and build in 1 generation what other countries have built over many generations! https://t.co/KsXQbjAhSM

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) October 26, 2023

">October 26, 2023