New Delhi,UPDATED: Nov 17, 2023 1:32 PM IST
Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy recently made headlines with his comments. Just last month, the technology mogul had sparked a national debate when he said young people should work 70 hours a week. And now, Murthy said becoming a software engineer or financial analyst is “very easy,” while being an entrepreneur takes a lot of work. He spoke about the challenges faced by aspiring entrepreneurs in India and also acknowledged the government’s efforts to promote the startup ecosystem.
Narayana Murthy says becoming an engineer is easy
In an interview with Moneycontrol, Murthy said there needs to be a broader societal shift in perception and support for risk takers such as young entrepreneurs trying to build a business.
“We are seeing a wave of entrepreneurs emerging with innovative ideas that were unthinkable just a decade ago,” noted Murthy, who himself started the entrepreneurial journey with Infosys in 1981. He had only six other engineers on his team at the time. Murthy added that youth today are more confident and ambitious and said today’s entrepreneurs are keen to tackle complex problems.
Murthy then warned that this entrepreneurial spirit often faces hurdles from society and that people should “embrace entrepreneurship as a demanding path and offer encouragement to those who dare to venture into the unknown.”
The Infosys co-founder went on to say that while “while careers like software engineering or financial analysis offer stability, entrepreneurship is a leap of faith with no guarantee of success.” He added that entrepreneurship is therefore quite risky and “drives innovation and progress.”
Talking about how easy it is to become a software engineer or a financial analyst, Murthy said, “While it is very easy to become a software engineer or a financial analyst, but to become an entrepreneur and say, ‘I will try this incredible idea , which has a low probability.’ That’s what we have to do. That’s where we have to do a lot of work.”
Note on Narayana Murthy’s 70-hour work week
As mentioned above, Murthy found himself in the middle of a controversy of sorts last month when he said that young people must be willing to work 70 hours a week to elevate the country’s work culture and compete effectively on the global stage .
During the first episode of 3one4 Capital’s podcast ‘The Record’, Murthy spoke about the urgency of changing labor productivity in India. He argued that the country will struggle to catch up with economies that have made remarkable progress in recent decades unless India’s youth commit to significantly longer working hours.
Murthy’s comments did not go down well with many people, who expressed their views on LinkedIn. While some people outright disagreed with the Infosys founder and asked him for his comments, others agreed with him to an extent and said his statement was too distorted. Therefore, the internet soon became divided between people who were in favor of Murthy and those who were not.