Indian tech titan Narayana Murthy’s call for 70-hour work week stirs debate over company culture, productivity

Indian tech billionaire Narayana Murthy’s recent suggestion that young people should work for up to 70 hours a week to advance the country’s industrial development has split opinions about whether the advice would work in a new-age economy.

The comment last month by the former chairman and CEO of tech juggernaut Infosys has provoked a sharp debate on social media with a section of industry veterans and elderly citizens endorsing them, while many young people and executives disagreed, saying that the well-meaning advice was out of date with the times.

“What I think he really meant by his comment on 70 work hours per week is that young people early in their careers need to work harder,” said Lloyd Mathias, business strategist and former marketing head of HP, Asia-Pacific, based in New Delhi.

“For someone who has achieved so much in his life, he is perfectly justified in saying that,” he said. “But these days there are so many diverse career avenues available. I have worked with many young people, and they are clear that they won’t compromise on their weekend time.”

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Listed among the 12 greatest entrepreneurs of the current generation by Fortune magazine, Murthy rose from being the chief systems programmer at top business school, the Indian Institute of management, Ahmedabad, to launching Infosys in 1981 and propelling it to become a global tech giant.

The tech pioneer earlier said in a television interview: “Somehow the youth have the habit of taking not-so-desirable habits from the West. My request is that youngsters must say: ‘This is my country. I want to work 70 hours a week’.

“This is exactly what the Germans and Japanese did after the second world war,” said Murthy, warning that India’s work productivity is among one of the lowest in the world.

Mathias said he believed the billionaire’s comment about Indians’ work attitude merited attention.

However, the industrialist’s call to work harder for the sake of the nation was a “little odd”, he said. “I don’t think it falls in most people’s ambitions, but the fact that your work can contribute to something greater might be a motivating factor.”

Some industry veterans have endorsed Murthy’s call for national development.

“A five-day week culture is not what a rapidly developing nation of our size needs. Our PM works over 14-16 hours every day. My father used to work 12-14 hours, seven days a week. I work 10-12 hours every day,” said Sajan Jindal, a billionaire industrialist who oversees the diversified steel and mining JSW group, in a post on X.

“We have to find passion in our work and nation-building,” he said, adding that India’s challenges are unique and distinct from those of developed nations.

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Dilip Chenoy, chairman of Bharat Web3 Association and former secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), said Murthy’s comments should be seen in the broader context of the work requirements of different industries.

“Many jobs and professions have a legal restriction on work conditions: pilots, workers in hazardous occupations, et cetera. Such occupations would need legal changes based on scientific evidence with regard to fatigue and safety,” he said.

“In sectors where there is a possibility to increase work hours with adequate compensation and without any impact on safety and health to improve output, it will be a good idea,” he said.

Some business founders and others work such long work weeks, Chenoy added.

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Spawning a new work culture

The boom in digital businesses – which relies on a staple blend of remote and on-site work – has offered greater work flexibility and prompted executives to ask whether Murthy was right in linking productivity to the number of work hours.

Prabir Jha, founder and CEO of Prabir Jha People advisory, said he endorsed the values of discipline and hard work that Murthy’s comments implied.

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“Having said that, if you take 70 hours per week in the current context, it is disappointing. I believe what the world and most jobs need are more creative solutions,” said Jha, who was the former chief human resources officer for India’s leading industrial group Reliance.

Linking productivity to work hours set a “poor role model”, he added.

Jha said that he had to instil a five-day work culture at Reliance around a decade ago, as well as encourage employees in several other companies where he worked to utilise rather than encash their accumulated leave. “To me, the larger issue is it [measuring work hours] reflects the inefficiency in India Inc.”

The culture in even many large companies has revolved around holding meetings that stretched for hours, he said.

“People don’t see what a colossal waste of time it is. The [emphasis] should be on having an agile, fresh and motivated workforce,” he said.