INTRODUCTION

Nagavara Ramarao Narayan Murthy born (20 August 1946), commonly

referred to as Narayan Murthy, is an Indian IT industrialist and the co-founder
of Infosys, a multinational corporation providing business consulting,
technology, engineering, and outsourcing services. Murthy studied electrical
engineering at the National Institute of Engineering, University of Mysore, and
M. Tech at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.

Before starting Infosys, Murthy worked

with Indian Institute of Management
Ahmadabad as chief systems programmer
and Patni Computer Systems in Pune
(Maharashtra). He started Infosys in 1981
and served as its CEO from 1981 to 2002
and as chairman from 2002 to 2011. In
2011, he stepped down from the board
and became Chairman Emeritus. On 1
June 2013, Murthy was appointed as
Additional Director and Executive
Chairman of the board for a period of five
years. Under his leadership, Infosys was
listed on NASDAQ in 1999.

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.

He serves on the boards of Ford Foundation, Rhodes Trust, and the UN

Foundation. He has served as a member of the HSBC board and the Unilever
board. He has served on the boards of Cornell University, Wharton School, and
the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University He has also served as
the Chairman of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad.Mr. Murthy
was listed among the ‘12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time’, by the Fortune
magazine in 2012. The Economist ranked him among the 10 most-admired
global business leaders in 2005. He has been awarded the Legion d’honneur by
the Government of France, the CBE by the British government and the Padma
Vibhushan by the Government of India. He is a foreign member of the US
National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Indian National Academy
of Engineering. He is the recipient of the 2012 Hoover Medal. The Tech
Museum, San Jose, awarded him the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian
Award in 2012. He received the 2007 Ernst Weber Medal from the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, USA (IEEE).
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He has received more than 25 honorary doctorates from universities in India

and abroad. He is the first Indian winner of Ernst and Young’s World
Entrepreneur of the Year award. He has also received the Max Schmidheiny
Liberty prize. He has appeared in the rankings of businessmen and innovators
published by Business Week, Time, CNN, Fortune, Forbes, Financial Times,
India Today, Economic Times, and the Business Standard.

He is a Trustee of the Infosys Science Foundation, which governs the Infosys

Prize, an annual award, to honor outstanding achievements of researchers and
scientists across six categories.
 Narayana Murthy's Career:
Murthy first served as Research Associate under a faculty at IIM
Ahmedabad and then later served as chief systems programmer[20]There he
worked on India's first time-sharing computer system[19] and designed and
implemented a BASIC interpreter for Electronics Corporation of India Limited.
[21]
He started a company named Softronics. When that company failed after
about a year and a half, he joined Patni Computer Systems in Pune.[22]
Murthy and six software professionals founded Infosys in 1981[23][24] with an
initial capital injection of Rs 10,000, which was provided by his wife Sudha
Murthy.[25] Murthy served as the CEO of Infosys for 21 years from 1981 to
2002[23] and was succeeded by co-founder Nandan Nilekani.[25] At Infosys he
articulated, designed and implemented the Global Delivery Model for IT
services outsourcing from India.[26] He was chairman of the board from 2002 to
2006, after which he became Chairman of the board and Chief Mentor.[25][27] In
August 2011, he retired from the company, taking the title chairman Emeritus.
[28][29]

Murthy serves as an independent director on the corporate board of HSBC and

has served as a director on the boards of DBS
Bank, Unilever, ICICI and NDTV.[6][30] He also serves as a member of the
advisory boards and councils of several educational and philanthropic
institutions,[6][30] including Cornell University, INSEAD, ESSEC, Ford
Foundation, the UN Foundation, the Indo-British Partnership, Asian Institute of
Management, a trustee of the Infosys Prize, a trustee of the Institute for
Advanced Study in Princeton, and as a trustee of the Rhodes Trust.[31] He is also
Chairman of the Governing board of Public Health Foundation of India.[32] He
serves on the Asia Pacific Advisory Board of British Telecommunications.[30]
[33]
In 2005 he co-chaired the World Economic Forum in Davos.[34]
On 1 June 2013, Murthy returned to Infosys as Executive chairman and
Additional Director. On 12 June 2014 it was announced that Murthy would step
down as Executive chairman effective 14 June. He would continue as Non-
Executive chairman until 10 October. On 11 October, Murthy was to be
designated as chairman Emeritus.[35]
Murthy also serves on the strategic board which advises the national law
firm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, on strategic, policy and governance issues.
[36]

 Narayana started his career as a chief system programmer at IIM

Ahmedabad where he implemented the BASIC interpreter for ECIL
(Electronics Corporation of India Limited).
 Later, he joined Patni Computer Systems, Pune. Prior to moving to
Mumbai, he met his wife, Sudha, who too was an engineer.
 In 1981, Narayana founded Infosys with six people with an initial capital
of US$250, the maximum share of which was borrowed from his wife.
Narayana served as the CEO of Infosys for 21 years, and later was succeeded
by co-founder Nandan Nilekani in March 2002.
 Infosys became the first company to be listed in NASDAQ, in 1991.
 In 1996, it started its office in Europe, Milton Keynes, UK.
 In 2002, it was selected as the “The India's Most Respected Company” by
the Business World Survey.
The couples are parents to two children, Rohan and Akshata. His son, Rohan is
engaged to Lakshmi Venu, daughter of Venu Srinivasan of TVS motors, and his
daughter Akshata is married to Rishi Sunak.
Success Story
Founder of Infosys, Mr. Narayan Murthy is legendary person who brought
Indian company in the listing of NASDAQ. He brought up the IT sector in India
and created lot of employment opportunity in India. He dreamt of forming IT
company with his six friends and his wife Sudha assisted in accomplishing
dream. In the year 1981 when he was dreaming to have his company but
somewhere was lacking behind in generating funds. The unknown savings of
his wife Rs. 10, 000 helped him to take the first step which brought turning
point in his life. According to him people who strive to achieve their dream,
people who work hard are not backward people, instead they are forward.
Apart from giving new route to IT industry in India he is also known for his
simplicity. He believes in sharing wealth with needy people. The more he gets,
the more he shares. In the year 1991 when Indian doors for liberalization
where left open, he got hold of this opportunity and then never turned back.

Infosys Foundation

In 1996, Infosys established the Infosys Foundation, to support the

underprivileged sections of society. At the outset, the Infosys Foundation
implemented programs in Karnataka. It subsequently covered Tamil
Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha,

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and Punjab in a phased manner. A team at the Foundation identifies programs

in the areas of Healthcare, Education, Culture, Destitute Care and Rural
Development.
Academic Entente

Infosys' Global Academic Relations team forges Academic Entente with

academic and partner institutions. It explores co-creation opportunities
between Infosys and academia through case studies, student trips and
speaking engagements. They also collaborate on technology, emerging
economies, globalization, and research. Some initiatives include research
collaborations, publications, conferences and speaking sessions, campus visits
and campus hiring.
Infosys Labs

Infosys Labs is organized as a global network of research labs and innovation

hubs. Infosys Labs collaborates with leading national and international
universities such as the University, Cambridge, Queens, University of Illinois at
Urbana Champaign, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, IITB-Monash
Research Academy, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi,
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Purdue University, Indian Institute of
Information Technology, Bangalore.
Infosys Prize

Infosys Prize is an annual award given to scientists, researchers, engineers and

social scientists in India. It is given by the Infosys Science Foundation, a not-for-
profit trust which was set up in February 2009 by Infosys and some members of
its Board. The prize is given under six categories. Each category includes a gold
medallion, a citation certificate, and prize money of Rs. 50 Lakh.
 Infosys Technologies Ltd- Company Profile
Infosys Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) was started in 1981 by seven people with
US$ 250. Infosys defines, designs and delivers technology-enabled business
solutions for Global 2000 companies. Infosys also provides a complete range of
services by leveraging our domain and business expertise and strategic alliances
with leading technology providers.

Infosys has a global footprint with 64 offices and 63 development centers in US,
India, China, Australia, Japan, Middle East, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland,
Netherlands, Poland, Canada and many other countries. Infosys and its subsidiaries
have 130,820 employees as on March 31, 2011.

The company follows the following principles:

 Vision : "We will be a globally respected corporation."

 Mission : "To achieve our objectives in an environment of fairness, honesty,

and courtesy towards our clients, employees, vendors and society at large".

 Values : We believe that the softest pillow is a clear conscience. The values
that drive us underscore is commitment

 Client Value : To surpass client expectations consistently.

 Leadership by Example : To set standards in our business and

transactions and be an exemplar for the industry and ourselves.

 Integrity and Transparency : To be ethical, sincere and open in all our

transactions.

 Fairness : To be objective and transaction-oriented, and thereby earn trust

and respect.

 Excellence : To strive relentlessly, constantly improve ourselves, our teams,

our services and products to become the best.
 Awards and Achievements won by Narayan Murthy
The President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil presenting the Padma Vibhushan
to Shri N.R. Narayana Murthy, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in 2008
Being the 33rd richest man in India, he has a net worth of US $1.8 Billion. He
has won a number of awards, following are some of them:

 The Asiaweek magazine counted him in the 50 top most powerful men in
the year 2000.
 He was honored with the Padma shree award by the President of India.
 In 2001, he was awarded the Wharton school's Dean Medal, University of
Pennsylvania.
 Narayana was also honored with the title 'Asia's Businessman of the year'
by Fortune magazine in 2003.
 In 2008 he was honored with the Padma Vibhushan by the President of
India.
 He is associated with important and prestigious organizations. He is the
member of the Board of Directors of INSEAD, the Board of Oversees of the
Wharton School Of the University of Pennsylvania, the Board of Members of
School of Management at Asian Institute of Technology.
 He also serves as a Director of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of
India.

Year Name Awarding organization Ref.

CIF Chanchlani Global Indian [40]

2014 Canada India Foundation
Award

[41][42][43]
2013 25 Greatest Global Indian NDTV
 Living Legends

Baroda Management [44]

2013 Sayaji Ratna Award
Association, Vadodara

[45]
2013 Philanthropist of the Year The Asian Awards

American Society of [46]

2012 Hoover Medal
Mechanical Engineers

NDTV Indian of the Year's Icon [47]

2011 NDTV
of India

Institute of Electrical and [48]

2010 IEEE Honorary Membership
Electronics Engineers.

Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson Award for [49]
2009 International Center for
Corporate Citizenship
Scholars

[50]
2008 Padma Vibhushan Government of India

[51]
2008 Officer of the Legion of Honor Government of France

Commander of the Order of the Government of United [52]

2007
British Empire (CBE) Kingdom

IEEE Ernst Weber Engineering Institute of Electrical and [53]

2007
Leadership Recognition Electronics Engineers

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of Ernst & Young World [54]

2003
the Year Award Entrepreneur of the Year Jury
 [16]
2000 Padma Shri Government of India

Life lessons from Narayana Murthy

May 28, 2007 13:58 IST
N R Narayana Murthy, chief mentor and chairman of the board, Infosys
Technologies, delivered a pre-commencement lecture at the New York
University (Stern School of Business) on May 9. It is a scintillating speech,
Murthy speaks about the lessons he learnt from his life and career. We present it
for our readers:

Dean Cooley, faculty, staff, distinguished guests, and, most importantly, the
graduating class of 2007, it is a great privilege to speak at your commencement
ceremonies.

I thank Dean Cooley and Prof Marti Subrahmanyam for their kind invitation. I
am exhilarated to be part of such a joyous occasion. Congratulations to you, the
class of 2007, on completing an important milestone in your life journey.

After some thought, I have decided to share with you some of my life lessons. I
learned these lessons in the context of my early career struggles, a life lived
under the influence of sometimes unplanned events which were the crucibles
that tempered my character and reshaped my future.

I would like first to share some of these key life events with you, in the hope
that these may help you understand my struggles and how chance events and
unplanned encounters with influential persons shaped my life and career.

Later, I will share the deeper life lessons that I have learned. My sincere hope is
that this sharing will help you see your own trials and tribulations for the hidden
blessings they can be.
The first event occurred when I was a graduate student in Control Theory at IIT,
Kanpur, in India. At breakfast on a bright Sunday morning in 1968, I had a
chance encounter with a famous computer scientist on sabbatical from a well-
known US university.

He was discussing exciting new developments in the field of computer science

with a large group of students and how such developments would alter our
future. He was articulate, passionate and quite convincing. I was hooked. I went
straight from breakfast to the library, read four or five papers he had suggested,
and left the library determined to study computer science.

Friends, when I look back today at that pivotal meeting, I marvel at how one
role model can alter for the better the future of a young student. This experience
taught me that valuable advice can sometimes come from an unexpected source,
and chance events can sometimes open new doors.

The next event that left an indelible mark on me occurred in 1974. The location:
Nis, a border town between former Yugoslavia, now Serbia, and Bulgaria. I was
hitchhiking from Paris back to Mysore, India, my home town.

By the time a kind driver dropped me at Nis railway station at 9 p.m. on a

Saturday night, the restaurant was closed. So was the bank the next morning,
and I could not eat because I had no local money. I slept on the railway platform
until 8.30 pm in the night when the Sofia Express pulled in.

The only passengers in my compartment were a girl and a boy. I struck a

conversation in French with the young girl. She talked about the travails of
living in an iron curtain country, until we were roughly interrupted by some
policemen who, I later gathered, were summoned by the young man who
thought we were criticising the communist government of Bulgaria.

The girl was led away; my backpack and sleeping bag were confiscated. I was
dragged along the platform into a small 8x8 foot room with a cold stone floor
and a hole in one corner by way of toilet facilities. I was held in that bitterly
cold room without food or water for over 72 hours.

I had lost all hope of ever seeing the outside world again, when the door
opened. I was again dragged out unceremoniously, locked up in the guard's
compartment on a departing freight train and told that I would be released 20
hours later upon reaching Istanbul. The guard's final words still ring in my ears
 -- "You are from a friendly country called India and that is why we are letting
you go!"

The journey to Istanbul was lonely, and I was starving. This long, lonely, cold
journey forced me to deeply rethink my convictions about Communism. Early
on a dark Thursday morning, after being hungry for 108 hours, I was purged of
any last vestiges of affinity for the Left.

I concluded that entrepreneurship, resulting in large-scale job creation, was the

only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in societies.

Deep in my heart, I always thank the Bulgarian guards for transforming me

from a confused Leftist into a determined, compassionate capitalist! Inevitably,
this sequence of events led to the eventual founding of Infosys in 1981.

While these first two events were rather fortuitous, the next two, both
concerning the Infosys journey, were more planned and profoundly influenced
my career trajectory.

On a chilly Saturday morning in winter 1990, five of the seven founders of

Infosys met in our small office in a leafy Bangalore suburb. The decision at
hand was the possible sale of Infosys for the enticing sum of $1 million. After
nine years of toil in the then business-unfriendly India, we were quite happy at
the prospect of seeing at least some money.
Dream of Narayan Murthy
If Indian engineering students have
taken job placements for granted, it is
because of visionaries like Narayana
Murthy. He is the Sultan of Indian IT but
the journey was not as smooth as that of
Tipu Sultan or other kings who were born in royal families.

Coming from a middle class family, like any other Indian, he had a dream of
getting into IIT. He had managed to clear the IIT-JEE exams but his father could
not afford hostel and tuition fees, due to which he made up his mind and
joined a local engineering college (NIE, Mysore). He said to him-self “All
students from the IITs study well and do big things in life. But it is not the
institution, ultimately it is you and you alone who can change your life by hard
work” and he went on to prove his statement!!

After Engineering, he received Master’s degree from IIT Kanpur. His first job
was at IIM-A as systems engineer (He had 5 job offers including HMT, Air India,
Telco after graduation but took up IIM-A which was the least paying because it
was a challenging role with scope for practical experience).

He was initially a firm believer of communism but an interesting incident

changed his life which led him to become a capitalist & an entrepreneur. During
a foreign visit, for having talked against the Bulgarian govt with a co-passenger
in train, NRN was jailed for 4 days without food but later released because he
was from India (which was a friendly country to them). This changed his life; he
gave up the idea of communism and decided to create jobs in India. That’s how
the story of his entrepreneurship started.

Infosys was his second attempt as an entrepreneur. The first one being
Softronics, which was targeted to domestic market. Since India was not mature
for IT yet, it turned out to be a big flop. So he started Infosys (yes, the S was
capital) and the rest is history.

Due to his technical skills and knowledge in the field of computer science,
Narayana Murthy is often considered as the best software engineer ever
produced by India. He is M.Tech in Computer Science from IIT Kanpur (1969
batch).

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The first minicomputer arrived at Infosys in 1983. It was a Data General 32-bit
MV8000. The very next year Infosys switched from mini to main frames with a
CAMP application for a Data Basics customer.

Infosys got its first joint venture partners in Kurt Salmon Associates.
Gopalakrishnan played the main role in this joint venture. But it got collapsed
in 1989 and Infosys came into almost dying stage. Gopalakrishnan then told
Murthy that they had nothing after eight years of trying to bring up a
company. Those who studied with us had cars and houses. The company was
on the verge of collapse. One of the founders of Infosys, Ashok Arora decided
to quit. The other founders did not know what to do. But Murthy had the
courage of conviction. 'If you all want to leave, you can. But I am going to stick
(with it) and make it,' Murthy told them. This was actually courage and firm
determination of Murthy, which finally saved the company.

Narayan Murthy's dream for the future

N R Narayana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys, however, has plans to turn the
company into a bigger, stronger, and global player.

Narayan said-I want this to be a place where people of different races,

nationalities and religious beliefs work together, in an environment of intense
competition but utmost courtesy and dignity, to add greater and greater value
to our customers, day after day. Just like we have received respect in India, I
want Infosys to be the most respected company in every country that it
operates.

But, to achieve these dreams, we have to be in existence over the next 250
years. I know we can do this for the following reasons:

 We have an extraordinary leader in Nandan (Nandan Nilekani, Infosys

CEO), a man of great vision, values and dynamism. He is ably supported
by the best management team and professionals in the industry.

 We have a depth of leaders within the organisation, with over 500

leaders being part of our leadership training and mentoring programme.

 The de-risking strategy at Infosys ensures that there is a backup for every
position, and that decision-making is participatory across the company.
In other words, it is not one person, but a team that looks at every
decision. Thus, at Infosys, it is the leadership of ideas and meritocracy
that drives every decision.

 Every decision is supported by a strong portfolio of systems, processes

and technology.

 The value system of the company is time and context invariant.

We will continue to have the mindset of a small company even

as we grow and scale.

Narayana Murthy’s Ten Rules For Success

N.R. Narayana Murthy is an IT industrialist and co-founder of Infosys. As of

September 2015, Murthy has been listed by Forbes Magazine as an
entrepreneur having a net worth of $1.8 Bn. Infosys, from starting in 1981
with six people, is now a company with 92, 000 people, 10-12 million
square feet space, $4 Mn+ in revenue, a billion dollar plus in profits, have
around $20 Bn market cap and is operating in 39 countries.

Narayana Murthy is one among those people whom lives are real life
epitome of success. To learn a bit from his experience, here are 10 points
from Narayana Murthy to be a great leader:
Be Nimble

In Murthy’s words, today it’s the nimble one who eats up the bigger
corporates as they lose the value they used to have 50 or 30 years ago.
So, in that sense it’s important to keep innovating and bring new ideas
and paradigms to the platform.

Start Mentoring

The primary objective of every leader should be to ensure that there is

successive generation of leaders. And one of the instruments for doing
that is mentoring. A good mentor can not only train the team but can also
get the best from each member. “I am the first among the equals as far as
mentoring process is considered.”

Be Courageous

Courage is the most important attribute of great leadership. One should

be courageous to dream big and to take bold decisions. As Murthy says
that one should have Courage of Conviction, Courage.. to go against
conventional systems and Courage..to travel the road less travelled.

Respect Your Competitors

One should never ever underestimate their competitors.”Always respect

them and learn whatever you can. And that’s the way you can beat
them.”

Stick To Your Ideas

Always believe in your idea and despite of any challenge, stick to it.
“When we started, the environment was completely business unfriendly.
It took a year to get the telephone connection and three years to get
import license for computers. But we know, there was a huge global
opportunity and we stick to our idea.”
Be In A Great State Of Mind

Most of our energy is based on what our mental state is. As long as one is
full of enthusiasm, hope, confidence and Joy, then physical energy will
come to him on its own.

Walk The Talk

A leader should be able to imbibe a great value system in the company. If

you have gained the respect of our stakeholders, investors, consumers or
anyone around you, revenues will follow on their own. Although it seems
difficult to achieve, but as per Murthy, “Once you have demonstrated your
value system by deed, then grapevine travels so fast that it replicates
itself.”

Be Prepared To Seize Luck

Luck is an important part of any journey. There are many smart people
who have worked so hard in their life but have reached nowhere. But as
they say it, Luck comes to all, but only those who are prepared for it can
seize it.

Be Trustworthy

“I have learnt that leaders have to be trustworthy first before being high
performers.” One should always bring bad news to the investors early on
a pro-active basis. “Let the good news take the steps and bad news the
elevator. Investors will respect those organisations that disclose their
mistakes and resolve to improve themselves.”

Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously

One should not let expectations around to pressurize his way of doing
things. For instance, a golgappa seller will always maintain the same pace
in making rounds despite of increasing crowd at the stall, to maintain his
counting and avoid losses. “While we take our work seriously, we don’t
take ourselves very seriously.”

References[edit]
1. ^ "Narayana Murthy to retire in August". The Economic Times. 22
May 2006. Archived from the original on 20 May 2016. Retrieved 20
April 2013.

2. ^ "Narayana Murthy returns as Infosys executive chairman as

company falters". Times of India. 1 June 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2013.

3. ^ "UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS

NAMES KATHY CALVIN NEXT PRESIDENT AND CEO".

4. ^ Indusage Partners board members

5. ^ "N. R. Narayana Murthy Trustee".

6. ^ Jump up to:a b c "N.R. Narayana Murthy & family". Forbes.

Retrieved 20 April 2013.
7. ^ [1]

8. ^ "India Today 2005 Power List". Indiatoday.com. 21 February

2005. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 8
November 2011.

9. ^ Srikar Muthyala (29 September 2015). "The List of Great

Entrepreneurs of India in 2015". MyBTechLife. Archived from the
original on 14 January 2016.

10. ^ "N. R. Narayana Murthy - University of Mysore Alumni

Network". University of Mysore Alumni Association. Retrieved 17
July 2017.