Sudha Murty
| Sudha Murthy | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Sudha Kulkarni August 19, 1950 Shiggaon, Karnataka, India |
| Residence | Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
| Citizenship | India |
| Alma mater | B.V.B. College of Engineering & Technology, Indian Institute of Science |
| Occupation | Chairperson, Infosys Foundation |
| Spouse | N.R. Narayana Murthy |
Sudha Murthy (also spelled Sudha Murty; née Kulkarni (Kannada: ಸುಧಾ ಮೂರ್ತಿ)) is an Indian social worker, philanthropist, educator, author, and venture investor. Mrs. Murthy began her professional career as a computer scientist and engineer, but is best known for her role as Chairperson of the Infosys Foundation and her joint global public health efforts with Melinda Gates of the Gates Foundation.[1][2] In addition, she has established several orphanages, participated in rural development efforts, and supported the movement to provide all government schools in Karnataka with state-of-the-art computer and library facilities.[3][4] Mrs. Murthy also teaches computer science and composes fiction. Dollar Sose (English: Dollar Daughter-in-Law), a novel originally authored in Kannada and later translated into English as Dollar Bahu, was adapted as a televised dramatic series by Zee TV in 2001.[5]
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[edit] Early life
Sudha Murthy was born on August 19, 1950 in Shiggaon in northern Karnataka, India. The daughter of a reputed local physician Dr. S.R. Kulkarni, Mrs. Murthy and her siblings were raised by her parents and maternal grandparents of the Deshastha Brahmin Kadim Diwan-Melgiri-Ron family.[6][7][8] These childhood experiences form the historical basis for her first notable work entitled How I Taught my Grandmother to Read & Other Stories.[9] Two institutions of higher learning, the H.R. Kadim Diwan Building housing the Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) department at IIT Kanpur[10][11] and the Narayan Rao Melgiri Memorial National Law Library at NLSIU,[6] were both endowed and inaugurated by the Infosys Foundation.
Mrs. Murthy completed a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from the B.V.B. College of Engineering & Technology, standing first in her class and receiving a gold medal from the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Thereafter, she completed a M.E. in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Science, standing first in her class and receiving a gold medal from the Indian Institute of Engineers.[12]
After graduation, Mrs. Murthy held the distinct honor of being the first female engineer hired at India's largest auto manufacturer TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company or TELCO (now the multinational Tata Motors, which owns Jaguar Land Rover and Daewoo commercial vehicles). The backstory reveals that Mrs. Murthy had written a postcard to then company Chairman JRD Tata complaining of the "men only" gender bias at TELCO. As a result, she was granted a special interview and hired immediately on her merits. Mrs. Murthy later met her husband N.R. Narayana Murthy while employed as an engineer at TELCO in Pune;[13] ironically, the couple's matchmaker G.K. Prasanna would later become the Global Head of Technology at Wipro, a competitor to Infosys in global IT services.[9][14]
[edit] Infosys Foundation
Mrs. Murthy is most widely recognized as the head of the Infosys Foundation as well as the seed investor behind Infosys and venture capital firm Catamaran Ventures.[15] In 1981, Mrs. Murthy invested Rs 10,000 ($250) to fund the then fledgling software start-up called Infosys Technologies. Thirty years later, at her husband N.R. Narayana Murthy's exit from Infosys in 2011,[16] that initial investment has been successfully managed into Infosys Foundation holdings valued at over Rs 30,000 crore ($7.5B).[17] This growth translates into a 30-year annual return of 78%,[18] making Sudha Murthy one of the most successful institutional investment managers in the world – surpassing Warren Buffett's 36-year Berkshire Hathaway annual return of 22%,[19] Peter Lynch's 13-year Magellan Fund annual return of 29%,[20] and George Soros's 32-year Quantum Fund annual return of 30%.[21]
Like other noteworthy charitable foundations (e.g., the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Gates Foundation; see List of wealthiest charitable foundations), the Infosys Foundation distributes funds for the betterment of Indian society through grants to various rural development, public health and educational projects (as detailed above) that promote socioeconomic growth and provide jobs for Indians. The capital is not hoarded or used for personal monetary gain as commonly observed in other Indian business legacies as indicated by the Bain & Company report on the substandard state of philanthropic giving in India[22][23] and Indian black money hoarding in Swiss banks as revealed by Wikileaks's Julian Assange.[24][25]
This philanthropy explains why, despite their high net worth, the Murthy family is widely known to live a simple middle-class lifestyle.[26][27]
[edit] Bibliography
Sudha Murthy is a prolific fiction author. She has published several books, mainly through Penguin, that espouse her philosophical views on charity, hospitality and self-realization through fictional narratives. Some of her more better-known works include:
How I Taught My Grandmother To Read & Other Stories
Wise & Otherwise: A Salute to Life
The Bird with Golden Wings
Gently Falls the Bakula
Dollar Bahu
Mahashweta
Old Man And His God
Magic Drum & other Favourite Stories
Fasal Cut
A Wedding in Russia
Sweet Hospitality
Her most publicized works, How I Taught My Grandmother to Read & Other Stories has been translated into 15 languages including English, Hindi and Assamese. The Assamese books are titled Aitak Moi Kidore Porhiboloi Shikalo and Bhina Jan Bhinna Mon: Jiwan Tomak Abhibadan and are published by Bhabani Print & Publications and translated by Anjan Sarma.[28]
[edit] Awards
In 2004, Sudha Murthy was presented with the Raja-Lakshmi Award "in recognition of her outstanding contribution to social work" by the Sri Raja-Lakshmi Foundation in Chennai.[29]
In 2006, Mrs. Murthy was awarded the Padma Shri, the highest-ranking civilian award from the Government of India, and received an honorary doctorate for her contributions in the spheres of social work, philanthropy, and education.[30]
In 2011, Mrs. Murthy and Justice Santosh Hegde were conferred honorary LL.D (Doctor of Laws) degrees for their contributions to promoting formal legal education and scholarship in India.[31]
[edit] Personal details
Mrs. Murthy is the wife of software industrialist N.R. Narayana Murthy. She is the sister of Bangalore-based obstetrician Dr. Sunanda Kulkarni, Boston-based Jayshree Deshpande (spouse of multibillionaire telecom tycoon Gururaj Deshpande) and renowned Caltech astrophysicist Shrinivas Kulkarni.[32] Through her mother's side, she descends from Sardar Melgiri Pandit of the Maratha Empire who battled the invading Mongol hordes at the Siege of Bijapur (1685–86) in the War of 27 years.[6][33][34]
The Murthy couple has two grown children, Akshata and Rohan. In August 2009, Akshata married Stanford Business School classmate Rishi Sunak in a high-profile wedding ceremony held at the Leela Palace Bangalore. Akshata is a fashion entrepreneur[35] and was formerly with Siderian Ventures, a clean technology venture capital firm located in San Francisco.[36] Mr. Sunak, an Oxford graduate and Fulbright scholar, is a partner at the UK-based charitable hedge fund TCI.[37]
Rohan Murthy is a Cornell graduate and received a Microsoft Fellowship to pursue advanced doctoral work in computer science at Harvard.[38] In June 2011, Rohan married Lakshmi Venu Srinivasan, heiress to the TVS Group dynasty via her father TVS Motors Chairman Venu Srinivasan.[39]
[edit] References
- ^ Ratan Tata, Rahul Dravid on Gates Foundation board. tata.com (2003-07-15). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Gates Foundation's AIDS initiative launched. The Hindu (2003-12-06). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Sudha Murthy: Humility personified. Business-standard.com (2011-01-23). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ I'm enjoying my acting stint: Sudha Murthy – Times Of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ The Sunday Tribune – Spectrum – Article. Tribuneindia.com (2001-09-30). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ a b c Karnataka / Bangalore News : Director thanks Dharam Singh. The Hindu (2005-08-29). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Stamboom – Ron Web Site. MyHeritage.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Kadim Diwan Melgiri Ron – Kadim Diwan Melgiri Ron – MyHeritage.com. Lastnames.myheritage.cn. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ a b About Mrs. Narayan Murthy. Nipun.charityfocus.org (1978-02-10). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ New CSE Building, IIT Kanpur. Iitk.ac.in. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Infosys chief Narayan Murthy rejects govt offer – Times Of India. Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com (2002-01-04). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Sudha Murthy | The Woman Behind | Narayan Murthy Wife. Living.oneindia.in (2011-08-17). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ JRD's words inspired me in philanthropy: Sudha Murthy. tata.com (2002-10-23). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Wipro Leadership Team. Wipro.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Sudha Murthy sells shares to fund Catamaran. Siliconindia.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ NR Narayana Murthy's last day as Infosys Chairman – Economic Times. Articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Business Line : Opinion / Columns : BL Diary – Practice makes a man perfect. Thehindubusinessline.com (2011-08-22). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ How to calculate your return on investment. Fatpitchfinancials.com (2011-07-25). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Ten great investors : Warren Buffett. Incademy.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Ten great investors : Peter Lynch. Incademy.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ The Global Guru :: Articles :: The Hedge Fund Strategy That Made George Soros a Billionaire. NicholasVardy.com (2006-11-17). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ An overview of philanthropy in India – Bain & Company – Publications. Bain.com (2010-03-19). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Arpan Sheth An Overview of Philanthropy in India. Bain & Company. March 19, 2010]
- ^ Black money comes mainly from India: Assange – Times Of India. Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Black money: Indian names in Swiss bank data list, says Assange. Indian Express (2011-04-26). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ 30 lessons from life and career of NR Narayana Murthy – Economic Times. Articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ I’m one of the hardest working people I know: Narayan Murthy. Financialexpress.com (2011-09-25). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Wise & Otherwise, 9780143062226 By Sudha Murty. Penguin Books India (2006-07-18). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ National : Raja-Lakshmi Award for Sudha Murty. The Hindu (2004-08-15). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Honorary doctorates for seven eminent personalities. The Hindu (2006-09-04). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Santosh Hegde, Sudha Murthy to be conferred honorary doctorate. Deccanherald.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ A star called Kulkarni. Rediff.com (2004-12-31). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ CHAPTER 9 —THE MOGHALS IN MAHARASHTRA. maharashtra.gov.in
- ^ Princely States Of India. Princelystatesofindia.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Passion for Fashion. Gsb.stanford.edu. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Narayana Murthy mulls investment in green VC fund. Business-standard.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Bangalore’s wedding of the year: Infy Murthy daughter. Indian Express (2009-07-21). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Rohan crafted engagement ring for Lakshmi, says Murthy – Economic Times. Articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com (2010-08-10). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
- ^ Narayana Murthy hosts reception of son's wedding; movers and shakers line up. Deccan Chronicle (2011-06-13). Retrieved on 2011-12-08.
