N.R. Narayana Murthy
NARAYANA MURTHY, the very name is now synonymous with entrepreneurship. Aube Indian, who has made India proud with his innovative and leadership qualities. He has become an inspiration for the younger generation in India to dream, to have passion for what one believes in and create something of our own.
Narayana Murthy was born on August 20, 1946 in Mysore, Karnataka in a Kannada Madhya Brahmin family. He obtained his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering Degree from University of Mysore in 1967 and did M.Tech from IIT Kanpur in 1969.He first worked in IIM-Ahmadabad as Chief System Programmer and later worked at Patni Computer. He worked in France and was a member of the operating system that designed real time operating system for handling cargo for an airport in Paris. According to him, a talk on computers by a Foreign Professor (during HT days) sowed interest, which led him to read books and develop a taste for computers.
The founder of ‘Infosys Technologies’, an information technology services company based in Bangalore. India was started by him in 1980 with a colleague and five other youngsters, working from a small house in Koramangala (Bangalore) with just a sum of Rs 10, 000. Today it has more than 70.000 employees and many of them hold shares in the company. Its growth is unbelievable-it has 30 offices worldwide, its income is R.3.773 crores and had a net profit of Rs 1,079 crores in 2007. It is one of the largest Information Technology (IT) companies. The best product from Infosys is ‘Finacle’, a banking product adopted by many countries.
He always wanted to be an entrepreneur and believed new ideas, values discipline, hard work, algorithmic thinking, sacrifice and commitment. These are the things he even wants the fresher to have in them to make an idea come true.
As an employer or a business leader he values, “Focus on customer, lead by example, integrity, fairness, transparency and excellence in execution”. He believes in simplicity and sharing wealth with needy.
Things did not happen overnight; he too faced a lot difficult situations bringing up the company. For instance, according to him, they had to wait for a telephone connection, for more than a year because of which they lost a good business offer. He once said, “Performance leads to recognition, recognition brings respect and respect enhances power. Humility and grace in power enhances the dignity of an organization”.
He feels India must improve its infrastructure, education-both secondary and higher education, create a better environment for growth to attract back the migrating professionals.
Narayana Murthy is one of the most admired and respected business leaders in India and in the world according to a global study. He was the President of National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) from 1992-1996 .In 1997, he was awarded the MW Tata corporate leadership Award. He was one of the two people named as Asia’s businessman of the year, for 2003 by fortune magazine. He was the first recipient of Indo- French Forum Medal (2003) and also world
Entrepreneur Award (2003) putting him in the list of great business leaders. In 2006 he was voted as one of Asia’s heroes who have brought revolutionary changes in last 60 years. In India he received the Padma Shri (2008) and Fatima Vibhushan in January 2008 for his great contribution. The French government Awarded him the Legion d’ Honour (officer of the Legion of Honour), the same time.
He worked as the founder CEO of Infosys for 20 years and true to his ethics he retired on August 20, 2006. He still continues as a non-executive chairman and mentor of Infosys, inspiring many. He is also presently, member of board of directors, of Universities, Managements and business schools abroad. After a long Innings, he is the right person to be a role model for today’s youth.
