N. R. Narayana Murthy

Early life and education

Murthy was born in 1946 in the Mysore region and grew up in Sidlaghatta. He studied electrical engineering at the National Institute of Engineering in Mysore and took a master's degree in computer science at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, finishing in 1969.^[1]

His first jobs were academic and industrial rather than entrepreneurial: he worked as chief systems programmer at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, then joined Patni Computer Systems in Pune, where he met several of the engineers who would later found Infosys with him.^[1]

Founding Infosys

In 1981 Murthy and six colleagues put in about 250 US dollars each and incorporated Infosys Consultants Private Limited in Pune. The company moved to Bengaluru in 1983, sold its own software and briefly built hardware before settling on writing software for clients abroad.^[1]

The turning point was the 1991 liberalisation of the Indian economy, which made it practical for foreign companies to buy software services from India at scale. Infosys listed in India in 1993 and on the New York Stock Exchange in 1999, and by the end of the decade it was one of the firms that had made Indian software exports a credible proposition for global buyers.^[1]

Milestones

1. 1981 to 2002Chief executive officer, and president, of Infosys.
2. 2002 to 2011Chairman of the board.
3. 2011Steps down from the board and becomes chairman emeritus.
4. 2013Returns as executive chairman for a five year term, during a period of friction with the then chief executive.
5. 2017Hands over the executive role after the chief executive's resignation, remaining chairman emeritus.

The 2013 return and the dispute with Vishal Sikka were widely reported, including the claim by some directors that Sikka was not chief executive material, which Murthy contested publicly. The episode became a case study in how founder influence and professional management collide in Indian companies.^[5][3]

Recognition and public life

• Padma Shri in 2000 and Padma Vibhushan in 2008, two of India's highest civilian honours.
• The Hoover Medal in 2012, awarded by the American society of mechanical engineers for contributions to humanity.^[3]
• The Canada India Foundation Global Indian Award in 2014.^[4]
• Named by Fortune among the greatest entrepreneurs of the era, and described by Time as the father of the Indian information technology sector.
• Co-chair of the World Economic Forum annual meeting at Davos in 2005.

Murthy has written and spoken on corporate governance, on the obligation of Indian companies to invest in research, and on the argument that the country's growth depends on institutions rather than on individual firms. His 2009 book, A Better India: A Better World, collects that argument in long form.^[1]

He remains chairman emeritus of Infosys and has kept a public role in Indian public debate through interviews and speeches.^[5]