Narayana Murthy: The man behind Infosys
The Infosys board is meeting today to select a successor to NR Narayana Murthy - one of the founders of India's most famous and second-largest IT company. The announcement of a new chairman, after the board meeting in Bangalore today, will mark the end of an era for IT giant Infosys because Mr Murthy has been the face of the company for the last 30 years. Mr Murthy will cease to be the chairman of the company in August, when he attains the age of 65.
At the very onset, Mr Murthy and his colleagues had decided that the company will be run professionally. "In 1981, when we all sat down in my small apartment in Mumbai, we decided to make this a company, something the best of professionals will be proud of working in and we said one of the basic requirements is to control management from ownership of shareholding. And we also said that we will ensure that our families don't play any non-merit based role in the companies,” Mr Murthy had told NDTV in August 2010.
“What it really means is that if there is a son or a daughter who wants to join, who is competent, can certainly join because we cannot deny any citizen of India or for that matter any country the opportunity to join. But here they will not have a role disproportionate to their experience, their competence, etc." Murthy had said in the interview.
The exit of Mr Murthy as the chairman of the company will mark the end of a formal association but he will continue to have an informal association with the organisation he built over the years.
"I would be called Chairman Emeritus. I will have a room which I can use if I want, I can go whenever I want but as propriety demands, I will have no say in any matter, I will not be allowed to attend any board meetings or any meetings. I can meet anybody personally," Murthy had said. (Watch: Narayana Murthy on life after Infosys).
Born on August 20, 1946 in Karnataka, Mr Murthy obtained his engineering degree (BE) from University of Mysore in 1967. He then attended the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT, Kanpur) for his master’s degree (M Tech) in 1969. Infosys’ journey started with an initial capital investment of Rs. 10,000 borrowed from Mr Murthy's wife Sudha. More than 30 years later, Infosys’ revenues have grown to Rs. 27,000 crore.
Under his leadership, Infosys got listed in the Indian markets in 1993 and later became the first Indian company to be listed on the New York-based NASDAQ in 1999. In 2006, Infosys featured on the coveted NASDAQ 100 index. Many of Infosys' employees became millionaire (the company is credited with introduction of stock options for employees in India). Not only that, the phenomenal growth of the company made investors rich too. Infosys has the distinction of always beating its guidance.
Mr Murthy served as the company's CEO for over 20 years between 1981 and 2002, and as the executive chairperson of the Board from 2002 to 2006. He retired from his executive position at Infosys on 20 August 2006 after which he has been the non-executive chairman of the board and also the chief mentor of the company.
Mr Murthy has been the force behind the meteoric rise of Infosys. His vision and business sense made the company go from strength to strength. Mr Murthy articulated, designed and implemented the Global Delivery Model, which has become the foundation for the huge success in IT services outsourcing from India. He has led key corporate governance initiatives in India. He is an IT advisor to several Asian countries.
Mr Murthy comes from a humble background and even after becoming a billionaire, he continues to lead a simple life. "We live a very simple life. If you come to our house, you will be shocked that we are living there...the reason why we do is because of the following - at this stage of capitalism of the country, it is very important to lead a life that most people can relate to," Mr Murthy had said.
"If we didn't and lived in huge mansions, distanced ourselves from common people, then when we go and speak about capitalism, people will say it is easy for people like him to say who have lot of money, lot of power, it is not good for us...so I feel for our generation people, we should live as simple a life as possible," Mr Murthy had said in the interview.
Murthy’s outstanding leadership qualities have been universally recognised and he serves on the boards of some of the world’s biggest companies and organisations.
He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second-highest civilian award after the Bharat Ratna, in 2008. Besides, he has also been awarded the Légion d’honneur by the government of France, and the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by the British government.
