Podcast#25 The 12-Hour Debate: Is Overworking the New Normal for Indian Youth? #narayanmurthy

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citizens endorsing them, while many young people and executives disagreed, saying that the well-meaning advice was out of date with the times.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.” 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. “Having worked in three different countries, including Singapore and the US, the average Indian’s attitude tends to be not so work-driven. They like to chat, have coffee breaks and spend time on social media,” he added. #bharat #narayanmurthy #hardwork