Infosys founder Narayama Murthy has tripled down on his previous statements that 70-hour work weeks are what’s needed in India and revealed he also thinks weekends were a mistake.
Speaking on Indian TV channel CNBC-TV18 at the Global Leadership Summit in Mumbai last week Murthy once again declared he did not “believe in work-life balance.”
“I have not changed my view; I will take this with me to my grave,” he asserted .
The argument from Murthy, and like-minded colleagues he quotes, is that India is a poor country that has work to do improving itself. Work-life balance can wait.
The Infosys founder held prime minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet up as an example of proper workaholics, claiming the PM toils for 100 hours a week, and suggested that not following suit demonstrates a lack of appreciation.
“Frankly I was a little bit disappointed in 1986 when we moved from a six-day week to a five-day week,” he added.
“I was not very happy with that. I think in this country, we have to work very hard because there is no substitute for hard work even if you’re the most intelligent guy,” he said to an appreciative audience and laughing news anchor Shereen Bhan.
Murthy claimed he himself worked six and a half days a week until retirement, typically 14 hours and 10 minutes a day, clocking on at 6:20 AM before downing tools at 8:30 PM.
The billionaire and father-in-law of former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak first voiced his widely-criticized endorsement of the 70 hour workweek a little over a year ago.
Murthy then doubled down on the comments he made in January 2024 when his wife, whose domestic labor and career sacrifices enabled his decisions despite her being “the more qualified” professionally of the pair, appeared in an interview by his side.
Not everyone has agreed, including the law. India’s Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code limits [PDF] working days to eight hours.
In response to his Murthy’s comments, some have suggested that long working hours are acceptable when you own your own company, but perhaps not ideal as an employee.
“This man has been given too much of an importance by asking his opinion about everything under the sun. His words remind me of those exploitative barons of medieval ages from whom the 8 hours work day rights had to be snatched,” quipped a commenter who claims to be a former Infosys employee.
Infosys reported [PDF] 3.3 percent year-on-year constant currency growth to $4.89 billion in its most recent results. The services firm’s Q2 2025 utilization rates were reported at 84.3 percent – meaning its consultants weren’t working for clients for almost a day each week.
Despite its founder’s firm stance that India’s workforce be fully engaged, Infosys has recently received attention for promising 2,000 graduates a job and them making them wait up to two years to start work.
The engineers-in-waiting were allegedly kept busy with occasional training and promises after being selected for employment during Infosys’ 2022/23 recruitment drive.
According to labor union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), over 1,000 of the new recruits were finally onboarded last month. ®
