Indian youth must work in 12-hour shifts: Narayana Murthy

Narayana Murthy's proposed 70-hour workweek typically translates to 12-hour shifts for a six-day work week or a 14-hour shift for a five-day work week.

Hyderabad: Founder of Indian tech giant Infosys, Narayana Murthy has said that Indian youth should start working 70 hours a week, if India wants to compete with economies that have made great progress in the last couple of decades.

Murthy’s proposed 70-hour workweek typically translates to 12-hour shifts for a six-day work week or a 14-hour shift for a five-day work week.

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Speaking on 3one4 Capital’s podcast ‘The Record’ in conversation with former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai, Narayana Murthy threw light on various topic including nation-building and technology. He also points that Indian work productivity currently ranks among the lowest in the world and that competing with economies like China will require Indian workforce to clock-in more hours.

“My request is that our youngsters must say, this is my country and I’d like to work 70 hours a week,” Murthy said, adding that the Germans and the Japanese did exactly that after the Second World War.

Narayana Murthy’s statement comes at a time when sections of the Indian workforce claims to be burned out due to the long work hours and lack of employee-friendly laws in the country leading to exploitation.