N.R. Narayana Murthy (Kannada: ಎನ್. ಆರ್. ನಾರಾಯಣಮೂರ್ತಿ) is an Indian industrialist, software engineer and one of the 7 founders of Infosys Technologies, a global consulting and IT services company based in India.
Age: 60
Fortune: self made
Source: software
Net Worth: $1.8 bil 
Country Of Citizenship: India
Residence: Bangalore , India, Asia & Australia
Industry: Software
Marital Status: married, 2 children
Education:
Indian Institute of Technology, Master of Science Much venerated cofounder of $2 billion (revenue) software services firm Infosys Technologies, which celebrated silver jubilee in 2006. Stepped down as executive chairman last August upon turning 60 but is still chief mentor and nonexecutive chairman. Set to join Unilever's board in May.
Life
Born into a Kannada Madhva Brahmin family in Mysore, India on August 20, 1946, he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the National Institute of Engineering, University of Mysore in 1967 after attending government school, and received his master's degree from IIT Kanpur in 1969.
His first job was at IIM Ahmedabad as chief systems programmer [2] 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 then 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. In 1981, he founded Infosys with six other software professionals. He served as president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies, India from 1992 to 1994. Mr. Murthy is the brother-in-law of serial entrepreneur Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande and the uncle of former NASSCOM Chairman and MphasiS chief Jerry Rao.
Corporate Profile
Murthy served as the founder CEO of Infosys for twenty years, and was succeeded by co-founder Nandan Nilekani in March 2002. He is the chairman of the governing body of both the International Institute of Information Technology - Bangalore, and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Directors of INSEAD, Board of Overseers of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Cornell University Board of Trustees, Singapore Management University Board of Trustees and the Board of Advisors for the William F. Achtmeyer Center for Global Leadership at the Tuck School of Business. Mr. Murthy also sits on the Board of Governors of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), a graduate school of business located in the Philippines.
He is also a member of the Advisory Boards and Councils of various well-known universities – such as the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Corporate Governance initiative at the Harvard Business School, Yale University and the University of Tokyo’s President's Council.
Murthy serves as an independent director on the board of the DBS Bank of Singapore. This is the largest government-owned bank in Singapore. He also serves as a director on the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India, as the co-chairman of the Indo-British Partnership, as a member of the Prime Minister's council on trade and industry, as a member of the Asia Advisory Board of British Telecommunications plc. and as a member of the Board of NDTV, India. He also serves as an independent director on the board of the European FMCG giantUnilever. He is an IT advisor to several Asian countries.
He retired from his executive position at Infosys on 20th August, 2006. However, he continues as the Non-Executive Chairman of the board.
Accolades
He has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors. In 2000, he was awarded the Padma Shri, a civilian award by the Government of India. He was the first recipient of the Indo-French Forum Medal (in the year 2003), awarded by the Indo-French Forum, in recognition of his role in promoting Indo-French ties. He was voted the World Entrepreneur of the Year - 2003 by Ernst & Young. He was one of the two people named as Asia's Businessmen of the Year for 2003 by Fortune magazine. In 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. He was awarded the Max Schmidheiny Liberty 2001 prize ( Switzerland), in recognition of his promotion of individual responsibility and liberty. In 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). In 1998, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, one of the premier institutes of higher learning in India, conferred on him the Distinguished Alumnus Award, and in 1996-97, he was awarded the JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award.
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 [3]. The list included 14 others with distinguished names such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett. 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.
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.
TIME magazine’s “Global Tech Influentials” list (August 2004) named Mr. Murthy as one of the ten leaders who are helping shape the future of technology. In November 2006, TIME magazine again voted him as one of the Asian heroes who have brought about revolutionary changes in Asia in the last 60 years. The list featured people who have had a significant impact on Asian history over the past 60 years and it included others such as Mahatma Gandhi, Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, etc.
He was the first recipient of the Indo-French Forum Medal (2003), awarded by the Indo-French Forum in recognition of his role in promoting Indo-French ties. He was voted the World Entrepreneur of the Year – 2003 by Ernst and Young. He was one of two people named as Asia's Businessmen of the Year for 2003 by Fortune magazine. In 2001, he was named by TIME/CNN as one of the 25 most influential global executives, selected for their lasting influence in creating new industries and reshaping markets. He was awarded the Max Schmidheiny Liberty 2001 prize (Switzerland), in recognition of his promotion of individual responsibility and liberty. In 1999, BusinessWeek named him one of their nine Entrepreneurs of the Year, and he was featured in BusinessWeek's 'The Stars of Asia' for three successive years – 1998, 1999 and 2000. He was recently awarded the Commander of the British Order (CBE) by the British government.
He is known to lead an unpretentious lifestyle in his modest residence in Bangalore along with wife Sudha Murthy and has a reputation for being a calm, self-effacing, soft-spoken person and caring father like figure for the employees of Infosys, shunning pricey suits, and avoiding a high-flying lifestyle (he is known to fly economy class). By his ‘simple living high thinking’ phenomenon, he has become the most admired business leader among the business schools in India.
Quotes
- “Our assets walk out of the door each evening. We have to make sure that they come back the next morning.” [4]
- “Performance leads to recognition. Recognition brings respect. Respect enhances power. Humility and grace in one's moments of power enhances dignity of an organisation,” [5]
- “The real power of money is the power to give it away.” [6]
- “In God we trust, everybody else bring data to the table.” [7]
- “Progress is often equal to the difference between mind and mindset.” [8]
- “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.” [9]
- "Ships are safest in the harbor but they are not meant to be there. They have to sail long and hard and face stormy seas to reach the comfort of a desirable destination"
The son of a mathematics teacher, he and six other friends founded Infosys in 1981 with just $1,000 in startup capital.
They had spotted early the potential in the software services industry, and Infosys has since grown into an outsourcing giant with annual revenues last year of $2.15 billion. The Indian outsourcing industry Infosys helped create is now worth a total $23 billion.
Infosys also has scored a number of firsts in India. It is the country’s first global company, with more than 90 percent of its revenues coming from overseas. It was the first company here to adopt a code of corporate transparency, the first to offer stock options to employees, and the first to list shares in the United States, on the Nasdaq, in 1999.
Infosys also showed India that professionals can run a company as well, if not better, than the families, such as the Ambanis of Reliance Industries, who dominate Indian companies.
“We have raised the confidence of entrepreneurs in the country,” said Murthy, who has been among Business Week magazine’s “Stars of Asia,” and was in 2004 named one of the 10 global technology leaders by Time magazine.
“Today, no matter where you go in India, if you talk to entrepreneurs in the country, they would say, ’We want to be like Infosys,”’ Murthy said.
Murthy added that he would like, in the coming years, to see Infosys considered among the top 10 information technology companies in each of the 20 countries it operates in.
Future plans
About his own plans, he’s not so certain.
He’ll continue to mentor people at Infosys, and remains on the boards of several Indian companies. He is also a member of the prime minister’s economic advisory council and an IT adviser to several Asian governments.
The bespectacled computer engineer said he’s charmed by the idea of teaching at a university.
“There are opportunities in India and outside to go and teach at a business school,” he said. It would make him “feel young,” he added.
Indeed. He’s currently a trustee on the board of Cornell University and has ties to Harvard Business School, Yale University and the Indian Institute of Management.
He dismissed speculation about a run for public office, insisting he’s “not cut out for politics.”
What seems certain, however, is that Murthy will continue to buck the trend in India and live modestly, despite his great wealth, estimated at $1.2 billion.
Indians worth a fraction of that have servants to clean up after them, but Murthy is reputed to start each day by cleaning the toilet at his house in a middle-class neighborhood of Bangalore, India’s technology hub.
A leftist during his student days at the respected Indian Institute of Technology, Murthy believes in distributing the wealth, and stock options at Infosys have created many millionaires.
Murthy meanwhile, reportedly earned $93,000 in cash compensation last year. In contrast, his counterpart at rival Wipro Technologies Ltd., Azim Premji, got about $569,000 in cash.
As for charity, Murthy won’t discuss his good works. “You don’t do charity for publicity,” he said.
Infosys’ bylaws, meanwhile, will prevent the founders’ family members from taking over the company.
Murthy’s son Rohan, a Cornell student, “has to run his own marathon,” he said. “He should create another Infosys.”
Source:www.msnbc.msn.com,www.forbes.com,wikipedia.org
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