N. R. Narayana Murthy

N. R. Narayana Murthy
File:Narayana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys, at the Horasis Global China Business Meeting 2006.jpg Speaking at Horasis Global China Business Meeting 2006
Born	(1946-08-20) August 20, 1946 Shidlaghatta, Kolar, Karnataka, India
Alma mater	University of Mysore IIT Kanpur
Occupation	Chairman of Infosys Technologies
Spouse	Sudha Murthy
Children	2

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy (Kannada: ನಾಯಿ ನಾಗವಾರ ರಾಮರಾಯ ನಾರಾಯಣ ಮೂರ್ತಿ) better known as N. R. Narayana Murthy, is an Indian industrialist and software engineer. He is the founder and Chairman Emeritus of Infosys Technologies Limited.

Early life

Born into a Kannada Madhwa Brahmin family in Mysore, India on August 20, 1946, in Sidlaghatta near Muddenahalli, Murthy graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the National Institute of Engineering, University of Mysore in 1967 after attending government school. He received his master's degree from IIT Kanpur in 1969.

Career

His first position was at IIM Ahmedabad as chief systems programmer where he worked on a time-sharing system and designed and implemented a BASIC interpreter for ECIL (Electronics Corporation of India Limited).

After IIM Ahmedabad, he joined Patni Computer Systems in Pune. Before moving to Mumbai, Murthy met his wife Sudha Murthy in Pune who at the time was an engineer working at Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. Ltd. (Telco, now known as Tata Motors) in Pune.

Murthy founded Infosys in 1981 in Pune with an initial capital of US $250, most of which was borrowed from his wife Sudha Murty. At its inception, he invited six other engineers to join the company. Murthy served as the founder CEO of Infosys for 21 years, and was succeeded by co-founder Nandan Nilekani in March 2002. At Infosys he articulated, designed and implemented the Global Delivery Model which has become the foundation for the huge success in IT services outsourcing from India. He also lead the company through several key decisions including its listing on the Indian stock exchange and on the NASDAQ.

He served as chairman of the National Association of Software and Service Companies from 1992 to 1994.

In August 2004, TIME listed him under “Global Tech Influentials” as one of the ten leaders who are helping shape the future of technology. In November 2006, TIME again voted him as one of the Asians who have brought about revolutionary changes in Asia in the last 60 years.

Murthy retired from his executive position at Infosys on 20 August 2006. However, he continues as the Chairman Emeritus of the Board.

Murthy started a new venture capital fund called Catamaran Venture Fund with the money he got by selling 800,000 Infosys shares worth 174 crores. Sudha Murthy also gave him 430 crores, which she got by selling quarter of her 1.6% stake in Infosys.

Board memberships

Murthy serves as an independent director on the boards of HSBC, DBS Bank and Unilever. He also serves on the boards of the Ford Foundation, UN Foundation, Indo-British Partnership, and NDTV.

He is a member of the Advisory Boards and Councils of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Corporate Governance initiative at the Harvard Business School, the Indian School of Business, Cornell University committee on academic affairs, the committee on alumni affairs and development at Yale University, the William F. Achtmeyer Center for Global Leadership at the Tuck School of Business, and the University of Tokyo’s President's Council.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of INSEAD, the Board of Overseers of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Singapore Management University, Asian Institute of Management (AIM), the Board of Members of School of Management at Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Asia Business Council and Business Advisory Council of Great Lakes Institute of Management and International Institute of Information Technology - Bangalore.

He also serves as a British Telecommunications.

Personal life

His wife, Sudha Murthy (née Kulkarni), is an Indian social worker and accomplished author. She is known for her philanthropic work through the Infosys Foundation. Her sister, Jayashree Despande is wife of enterpreneur and founder of US-based Sycamore Networks, Gururaj Deshpande.

They have two children - Rohan and Akshata. Rohan is married to Venu Srinivasan's (of TVS motors) daughter Lakshmi Venu. Akshata Murthy is married to Rishi Sunak.

Murthy is the brother-in-law of serial entrepreneur Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande and the uncle of former NASSCOM Chairman and MphasiS chief Jerry Rao.

Awards and honours

Year	Name	Awarding organization	Ref.
2010	IEEE Honorary Membership	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
2010	Foreign Associate Member	United States National Academy of Engineering.
2008	Padma Vibhushan	President of India.
2008	Officer of the Legion of Honor	Government of France.
2007	Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)	Government of United Kingdom.
2007	IEEE Ernst Weber Engineering Leadership Recognition	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
2003	Asia's Businessmen of the Year	Fortune magazine.
2003	Indo-French Forum Medal	Indo-French Forum.
2003	World Entrepreneur of the Year	Ernst and Young.
2001	Wharton Business School Dean's Medal	University of Pennsylvania.
2001	Max Schmidheiny Liberty Prize	Switzerland.
2001	Nikkei Asia Prize	Nikkei Inc.
2000	Padma Shri	President of India.
1998	Distinguished Alumnus Award	Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.
1996	JRD Corporate Leadership Award	All India Management Association (AIMA).

• 2006: In May 2006, Narayana Murthy has, for the fifth year running, emerged the most admired business leader of India in a study conducted by Brand-comm, a leading Brand Consulting, Advertising and PR firm
• 2005: In December 2005, Narayana Murthy was voted as the 7th most admired CEO/Chairman in the world in a global study conducted by Burson-Marsteller with the Economist Intelligence Unit [1]. The Economist ranked him 8th among the top 15 most admired global leaders (2005). He was ranked 28th among the world's most-respected business leaders by the Financial Times (2005). He topped the Economic Times Corporate Dossier list of India's most powerful CEOs for two consecutive years – 2004 and 2005.
• 2001: He was named by TIME / CNN as one of the twenty-five, most influential global executives, a group selected for their lasting influence in creating new industries and reshaping markets.
• 1999: BusinessWeek named him one of the nine entrepreneurs of the year and he was also featured in the BusinessWeek's 'The Stars of Asia' (for three successive years - 1998, 1999 and 2000).

Books

• A Better India, A Better World, Penguin Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-670-08283-4

Quotes

• “Our assets walk out of the door each evening. We have to make sure that they come back the next morning.” [2]
• “Performance leads to recognition. Recognition brings respect. Respect enhances power. Humility and grace in one's moments of power enhances dignity of an organisation,” [3]
• “The real power of money is the power to give it away.” [4]
• “In God we trust, everybody else bring data to the table.” [5]
• “Progress is often equal to the difference between mind and mindset.” [6]
• “I want Infosys to be a place where people of different genders, nationalities, races and religious beliefs work together in an environment of intense competition but utmost harmony, courtesy and dignity to add more and more value to our customers day after day.” [7]
• “A clear conscience is the softest pillow in the world." [8]
• "A plausible impossibility is better than a convincing possibility." [9]
• "When in doubt, disclose." [10]

External links

• Narayan Murthy's speech at NYC
• Profile on Infosys.com
• Profile on Karnataka.com
• Interviewed by Gartner Fellow
• Narayana Murthy bids adieu to Infosys
• The Legacy of Infosys Narayana Murthy