Murthy tells IT heads to stop giving themselves massive hikes during a panel discussion at IIT-Bombay

Murthy was responding to a question concerning the recent large scale layoffs in IT companies at Mood Indigo, IIT-B’s annual cultural fest

N R Narayan Murthy, co-founder of software firm Infosys, on Friday, chided the top executives at Information Technology (IT) companies for giving themselves massive raises even as the sector faces a slowdown.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram, Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy, and journalist Faye D'souza during a panel discussion at Mood Indigo at IIT-Bombay. (HT Photo)

While speaking at a panel discussion during Mood Indigo, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay’s (IIT-B) annual cultural festival, he said, “While in most companies, the salaries of freshers have been stagnant for some time, people in senior positions have been getting 300% to 500%, and even 1000%, raise.” Narayan Murthy said that everyone, including top executives, need to make sacrifices, so that the capitalistic economic model works.

Murthy was responding to a question concerning the recent large scale layoffs in IT companies. The slowdown in hiring is said to have also affected job prospects of IITians. HT had reported that the IT sector had offered 32% fewer jobs during IIT-B placements during last academic year, compared to 2015-16. The median salary and the proportion of students getting placed has also dipped by a few percentage points.

The session also saw Chidambaram and Narayan Murthy debate the necessity of linking Aadhaar with various services. The former finance minister said that Aadhar linking must be mandatory only for the services subsidised by the government. “The government says that Aadhar data is safe in silos. But somebody can hack into the data and create a 360° profile of an individual in a jiffy,” he said.

Meanwhile, Narayan Murthy said that the concerns of privacy can be addressed through a law which limits the access to Aadhar-linked data to certain people. He also suggested using a system of real-time verification of identity instead of creating a permanent link. “Aadhar is nothing but a simple verification of an individual’s identity. Except for providing fingerprints and iris recognition IDs, it doesn’t violate any form of privacy,” he said.