A hot potato: Narayana Murthy, the Infosys co-founder who has spent years promoting his belief that if you're awake, you should be working, is at it again. Following previous calls for a 70-hour workweek, Murthy has now increased this target to 72 hours. He also praised China's brutal 996 work culture.
Murthy has long been a controversial figure over his call for young Indians to work 70-hour weeks if they want to succeed and help the nation's economy. He doubled down his stance last year, saying he'd "take it to his grave." Murthy also said he didn't believe in work-life balance, obviously.
But it seems Murthy no longer thinks 70 hours is enough. In a recent interview with Indian outlet Republic, he pushed the figure up to 72 hours.
Murthy's extra two hours appear to stem from his love of China's 996 work culture, which involves working 9am to 9pm, six days per week – 72 hours in total. He said India needs to adopt a similar ethic to advance its economic growth.
While Murthy likes the idea of working yourself to death, China's top court declared the 996-model illegal in 2021, though many companies still adhere to the regime despite protests from employees.
There was plenty of backlash against Murthy's recent comments, which one imagines is something he's used to. Mohandas Pai, Aarin Capital's chairman and former CFO for Infosys, defended him by saying the remarks were aimed only at entrepreneurs, startup founders and high-performing innovators, rather than "ordinary" employees.
Murthy, who is the father-in-law of former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, claims that he is not smarter than many others, and that his success is due to a relentless work ethic. He used to go into the office at 6.20 am and go home at 8.30 pm – 14 hours each day – for six and a half days a week until he retired.
When asked if he regretted not spending more time with his children instead of working, Murthy said quality was more important than quantity, and that the hour and a half to two hours he spent with the children at dinner when he returned home were "lots of fun."