Narayana Murthy Acknowledges Oversight in Recognizing Early Infosys Employees
13th February 2024Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has expressed regret for not adequately rewarding many of the early employees who played a crucial role in the success of the company. During a Q&A session at the launch of his book, Mr. Murthy acknowledged the significant contributions of these individuals and admitted that their efforts deserved more recognition.
Reflecting on the past, Mr. Murthy mentioned, “There were several extremely smart early adopters of Infosys whom I could not award the kind of stock I gave to my co-founders. Their contribution was more or as much as mine.” He added that he should have carefully considered this aspect, stating, “Those extraordinary people too would have benefited.”
Founded in July 1981 in Pune and currently headquartered in Bengaluru, Infosys was established by seven engineers, including Narayana Murthy. The other co-founders are Nandan Nilekani, Kris Gopalakrishnan, SD Shibulal, K Dinesh, NS Raghavan, and Ashok Arora.
Last month, Mr. Murthy expressed regret for not allowing his wife, Sudha Murty, to join Infosys, despite providing the initial seed capital of ₹10,000 for the company.
Mr. Murthy highlighted the democratic decision-making culture at Infosys during his tenure, emphasizing that everyone’s views were considered before making decisions. He also commented on the challenges of achieving optimal results in a democracy, mentioning, “Infosys would have done much better than we did because we had created an enlightened democracy.”
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Mr. Murthy maintained a diplomatic stance when asked about his son-in-law, Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of the UK. He emphasized that, as foreigners, they refrain from commenting on the affairs of another country and explained that their relationship is characterized by close, harmonious, and affectionate personal ties.
