Narayana Murthy's ‘70-hour work week’ advice for youngsters divides internet

Murthy made the remarks while appearing on the first episode of 3one4 Capital's podcast ‘The Record’.

Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has said that youngsters in India must work for at least 70 hours a week to compete with countries like China. He called India’s work productivity 'lowest' when compared to the other developed countries.

Founder chairman of Infosys N R Narayana Murthy (Photo by Samir Jana/ Hindustan Times)

In a conversation with CFO Mohandas Pai, Murthy said, “If we want to compete with the fastest growing countries like China and Japan, we need to boost up our work productivity. At the moment, India’s work productivity is very low. The government also must reduce the time it takes for decision-making and curb corruption in bureaucracy.”

“Our youngsters need to work for at least 70 hours a week,” he added.

Murthy made the remarks while appearing on the first episode of 3one4 Capital's podcast ‘The Record’.

“After the Second World War, the people of Germany and Japan worked for extra hours for the sake of their country. The youngsters in India also own the country and work hard for the sake of our economy,” Murthy noted.

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal agreed with Murthy, saying it is not “our moment to work less and entertain ourselves”.

In a social media post on X, Aggawal said, “Totally agree with Mr Murthy’s views. It’s not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it’s our moment to go all in and build in 1 generation what other countries have built over many generations!”

However, not everyone was in agreement with the tech billionaire, with film producer Ronnie Screwvala noting that “boosting productivity isn't just about working longer hours.”

“It's about getting better at what you do - Upskilling, having a positive work environment and fair pay for the work done. Quality of work done > clocking in more hours.”