Billionaire Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys, had triggered a controversy with his remarks that young professionals in India should adopt to a 70-hour workweek in order to raise productivity and compete at a global level.

Infosys co-founder recently stirred a controversy with his suggestions of increasing the workweek in India to 70 hours in order to “boost productivity” and compete with other major economies across the globe. However, Murthy’s contentious ‘advice’ simply rubbed many people the wrong way, with noting that the billionaire was talking like a “slavedriver” and wanted to work the country’s youth to the bone, so he could continue to earn billions in profits while the workers receive low salaries for maximum work.

Recently, young entrepreneurs Anupam Mittal and Namita Thapar jumped into 70-hour workweek debate, with Mittal calling the suggestion by Narayana Murthy a “big lie”, while Thapar responded by terming Mittal’s take as “a crock of bullsh*t”.

The ‘big lie’

Appearing on an interview with the Humans of Bombay, Anupam Mittal, seemingly dismissed Narayana Murthy’s idea of longer working hours as a “big lie” being fed to India’s young workers. The Shaadi.com founder, recalled his early days working 16-hour shifts in the US, and asserted that productivity is the result of effort and strategy, not how long you work.

Citing the example of his company’s hybrid work model as proof of his argument, Anupam Mittal, his firm has witnessed a 30 percent rise in productivity since adopting the same. “The work-life balance is destroying a whole generation. What we need instead, is a work-life harmony,” he asserted.

While Mittal opposed the idea of longer working hours, he urged young professionals to push themselves during their early years in order to build build character and achieve extraordinary results.

‘Crock of BS’

Meanwhile, Namita Thapar vehemently opposed Mittal’s argument, calling his reasoning “a crock of bullsh*t”, and asserting that reality is fundamentally different for founders and employees, because the former have financial stakes which the latter do not.

“Founders, like me, have significant financial stakes and can afford to work around the clock, but employees cannot,” Namita Thapar, the CEO of Emcure Pharmaceuticals, said, adding that longer working hours could have severe mental physical consequences for employees.

Thapar argued that while she worked long hours to help build Emcure, founder cannot and should not be held to such expectations as they do not share the same financial upside.

Billionaire Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys, had triggered a controversy with his remarks that young professionals in India should adopt to a 70-hour workweek in order to raise productivity and compete at a global level.