N. R. Narayana Murthy
Encyclopedia
Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy , better known as N. R. Narayana Murthy, is an Indian industrialist and software engineer. He and six other engineers founded Infosys in 1981. Mr. Murthy served as CEO from 1981 to 2002. From 2002 to 2011, he served as Chairman. In 2011, he became Chairman Emeritus.
family in Mysore, Karnataka
on August 20, 1946, Mr. Murthy graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the National Institute of Engineering
, University of Mysore
in 1967. He received his master's degree from IIT Kanpur in 1969.
interpreter for ECIL (Electronics Corporation of India Limited).
After IIM Ahmedabad, he started a company named Softronics in 1976. When that company failed, he joined Patni Computer Systems
in Pune
. Mr. Murthy met his wife Sudha Murthy in Pune who was an engineer working at Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. Ltd. (Telco, now known as Tata Motors
) at the time.
After settling down in Pune, Mr. Murthy founded Infosys
in 1981with an initial capital injection of Rs 10,000, which was invested by his wife Sudha Murthy. Murthy served as the CEO of Infosys for 21 years and was succeeded by co-founder Nandan Nilekani
in 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 held the executive position of Chairman of the Board from 2002 to 2006, when he became the "non-executive" Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor. In August 2011, he retired completely from the company and taking the title Chairman Emeritus.
, DBS Bank
, Unilever
, ICICI
and NDTV
. He also serves on the boards of the Ford Foundation
, the UN Foundation, the Indo-British Partnership, a trustee of the Infosys Prize
, and as a trustee of the Rhodes Trust that manages the Rhodes Scholarship
. He is also the Chairman of the Governing board of Public Health Foundation of India
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 at 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 on the Asia Pacific Advisory Board of British Telecommunications.
In 2005 he co-chaired the World Economic Forum
in Davos
.
.
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
.
Early life
Born into a Kannada Madhwa BrahminBrahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
family in Mysore, Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
on August 20, 1946, Mr. Murthy graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the National Institute of Engineering
National Institute of Engineering
The National Institute of Engineering, popularly known as The NIE, established in 1946, is the second oldest engineering college in Karnataka. It is located in Mysore, India. NIE is an autonomous institution affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University. It was granted autonomy in the year 2007...
, University of Mysore
University of Mysore
The University of Mysore , is a public university in India. The University founded during the reign of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore, and was conceptualized on the basis of a report on educational progress in the United States and Australia, submitted by Messrs Thomas Denham and...
in 1967. He received his master's degree from IIT Kanpur in 1969.
Career
Mr. Murthy's first job position was at IIM Ahmedabad, where he worked as the chief systems programmer. He developed a time-sharing system and designed and implemented a BASICBASIC
BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....
interpreter for ECIL (Electronics Corporation of India Limited).
After IIM Ahmedabad, he started a company named Softronics in 1976. When that company failed, he joined Patni Computer Systems
Patni Computer Systems
iGATE Patni , is a provider of Information Technology services and business solutions. The company employs over 15,000 people, and has 23 international offices across the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as offshore development centres in eight cities in India...
in Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
. Mr. Murthy met his wife Sudha Murthy in Pune who was an engineer working at Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. Ltd. (Telco, now known as Tata Motors
Tata Motors
Tata Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Mumbai, India. Part of the Tata Group, it was formerly known as TELCO...
) at the time.
After settling down in Pune, Mr. Murthy founded Infosys
Infosys
Infosys Limited, formerly Infosys Technologies Limited is a global technology services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It is the second largest IT exporter in India with 133,560 employees as of March 2011. It has offices in 33 countries and development centers in India, China,...
in 1981with an initial capital injection of Rs 10,000, which was invested by his wife Sudha Murthy. Murthy served as the CEO of Infosys for 21 years and was succeeded by co-founder Nandan Nilekani
Nandan Nilekani
Nandan Nilekani born is an Indian entrepreneur. He currently serves as the Chairman of the new Unique Identification Authority of India , after a successful career at Infosys Technologies Ltd...
in 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 held the executive position of Chairman of the Board from 2002 to 2006, when he became the "non-executive" Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor. In August 2011, he retired completely from the company and taking the title Chairman Emeritus.
Board memberships
Mr. Murthy serves as an independent director on the corporate boards of HSBCHSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
, DBS Bank
DBS Bank
DBS Bank Ltd is a bank incorporated in Singapore. It was previously known as The Development Bank of Singapore Limited, before the present name was adopted in July 2003 to reflect its changing role as a regional bank....
, Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
, ICICI
Ičići
Icici is a small place located in the north-east part of Istria, Croatia . It is located under a mountain Učka, on the north part of the Adriatic Sea....
and NDTV
NDTV
NDTV is an Indian commercial broadcasting television network founded in 1988. It was founded by Prannoy Roy, an eminent journalist and current chairman and director of NDTV Group. NDTV currently has more than 1,000 employees producing news from over twenty locations in India...
. He also serves on the boards of the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
, the UN Foundation, the Indo-British Partnership, a trustee of the Infosys Prize
Infosys Prize
The Infosys Prize is an annual award that recognizes outstanding contributions by scientists, researchers, engineers and social scientists in India. By recognizing and rewarding extraordinary accomplishments, the Infosys Prize aims to elevate the prestige of pure and applied sciences research in...
, and as a trustee of the Rhodes Trust that manages the Rhodes Scholarship
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
. He is also the Chairman of the Governing board of Public Health Foundation of India
Public Health Foundation of India
The Public Health Foundation of India , is an autonomous foundation located in New Delhi, India. The foundation was created as a public-private initiative and launched by the Prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh in 2006 with the aim of enhancing the capacity of public health professionals in the...
He is a member of the Advisory Boards and Councils of the Stanford Graduate School of Business
Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Stanford Graduate School of Business is one of the professional schools of Stanford University, in Stanford, California and is broadly regarded as one of the best business schools in the world.The Stanford GSB offers a general management Master of Business Administration degree, the Sloan...
, the Corporate Governance initiative at the Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
, the Indian School of Business
Indian School of Business
The Indian School of Business is a business school in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. It offers a Post Graduate Programme in Management , a Fellow Program in Management, and a Post Graduate Programme in Management for Senior...
, Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
committee on academic affairs, the committee on alumni affairs and development at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, the William F. Achtmeyer Center for Global Leadership at the Tuck School of Business
Tuck School of Business
The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration is the graduate business school of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States...
, and the University of Tokyo
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...
’s President's Council.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of INSEAD
INSEAD
INSEAD is an international graduate business school and research institution. It has campuses in Europe , Asia , and the Middle East , as well as a research center in Israel...
, the Board of Overseers at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wharton was the world’s first collegiate business school and the first business school in the United States...
, Singapore Management University
Singapore Management University
The Singapore Management University was officially incorporated on January 12, 2000, and was Singapore's first private university funded by the government...
, Asian Institute of Management
Asian Institute of Management
The Asian Institute of Management, or simply AIM, is a graduate school of business and a center of business and management research. It is one of the few business schools in Asia to be internationally accredited with the AACSB. It was established in partnership with Harvard Business School and uses...
(AIM), the Board of Members of School of Management at Asian Institute of Technology
Asian Institute of Technology
The Asian Institute of Technology is an international institution for higher education in engineering, advanced technologies, and management and planning...
(AIT), Asia Business Council
Asia Business Council
The Asia Business Council was established in Hong Kong in 2002, and is an independent organization of top executives, typically from leading Asian companies or multinational corporations with significant Asian operations, who share an interest in the policies needed to ensure the continued economic...
and Business Advisory Council of Great Lakes Institute of Management
Great Lakes Institute of Management
Great Lakes Institute of Management is a business school located in the South Indian city of Chennai...
and International Institute of Information Technology - Bangalore
International Institute of Information Technology - Bangalore
The International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore , abbreviated to IIIT-B, is a graduate school in India. Founded in 1999, it offers M.Tech., MS and PhD programs in the field of Information Technology...
.
He also serves on the Asia Pacific Advisory Board of British Telecommunications.
In 2005 he co-chaired the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
in Davos
Davos
Davos is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of 11,248 . Davos is located on the Landwasser River, in the Swiss Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range...
.
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 DeshpandeGururaj Deshpande
Gururaj Deshpande is an Indian American venture capitalist and entrepreneur, who is best known for co-founding the Chelmsford, MA-based internet equipment manufacturer Sycamore Networks, the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT and the Deshpande Foundation.Presently, Deshpande is...
.
They have two children - Rohan and Akshata. Rohan is married to Venu Srinivasan
Venu Srinivasan
Venu Srinivasan is an Indian industrialist; the Chairman and Managing Director of Sundaram Clayton Ltd and TVS Motor Company, the third largest two wheeler manufacturer in India. He also served as the President of Confederation of Indian Industry for the year 2009-10...
'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
Gururaj Deshpande
Gururaj Deshpande is an Indian American venture capitalist and entrepreneur, who is best known for co-founding the Chelmsford, MA-based internet equipment manufacturer Sycamore Networks, the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT and the Deshpande Foundation.Presently, Deshpande is...
.
Awards and honours
| Year | Name | Awarding organization | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Forbes Forbes Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week... Lifetime Achievement Award |
Forbes Forbes Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week... |
|
| 2011 | NDTV Indian of the Year NDTV Indian of the Year -Winners:-7th NDTV Indian of the Year:The 7th NDTV Indian of the Year was held at the Taj Palace Hotel on October 18, 2011. The winners were:* Indian of the Year – Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal* India's Heroes – India national cricket team... 's Icon of India |
NDTV NDTV NDTV is an Indian commercial broadcasting television network founded in 1988. It was founded by Prannoy Roy, an eminent journalist and current chairman and director of NDTV Group. NDTV currently has more than 1,000 employees producing news from over twenty locations in India... |
|
| 2010 | IEEE Honorary Membership IEEE Honorary Membership IEEE Honorary Membership is a honorary type of membership of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers , that is given for life to an individual... |
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence... . |
|
| 2010 | Man of the Year | GQ Magazine. | |
| 2010 | Foreign Associate Member | United States National Academy of Engineering. | |
| 2009 | Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship | Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars , located in Washington, D.C., is a United States Presidential Memorial that was established as part of the Smithsonian Institution by an act of Congress in 1968... . |
|
| 2008 | Padma Vibhushan Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in the Republic of India. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by the President of India. It was established on 2 January 1954. It ranks behind the Bharat Ratna and comes before the Padma Bhushan... |
President of India President of India The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary... . |
|
| 2008 | Officer of the Legion of Honor | Government of France Government of France The government of the French Republic is a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the fifth Republic. The nation declares itself to be an "indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic"... . |
|
| 2007 | Commander of the Order of the British Empire Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions... (CBE) |
Government of United Kingdom. | |
| 2007 | IEEE Ernst Weber Engineering Leadership Recognition IEEE Ernst Weber Engineering Leadership Recognition The IEEE Ernst Weber Engineering Leadership Recognition was established by the Board of Directors of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 1985. This award is presented "for exceptional managerial leadership in the fields of interest to the IEEE"... |
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence... . |
|
| 2003 | Indo-French Forum Medal | Indo-French Forum. | |
| 2003 | World Entrepreneur of the Year | Ernst and Young. | |
| 2002 | Asia's Businessman of the Year | Fortune Fortune Fortune may refer to:General concepts* Luck, a chance happening, or that which happens beyond a person's controls* Wealth, an abundance of items of economic value* Prophecy, the prediction of future events... Magazine |
|
| 2001 | Wharton Business School Dean's Medal | University of Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution... |
|
| 2001 | Max Schmidheiny Freedom Prize | Switzerland. | |
| 2001 | Nikkei Asia Prize | Nikkei Inc. | |
| 2000 | Padma Shri Padma Shri Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan... |
President of India President of India The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary... . |
|
| 1998 | Distinguished Alumnus Award | Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur is a Central deemed University located in Uttar Pradesh, about 15 km north-west of the city of Kanpur in the Kalyanpur suburb.... . |
|
| 1996 | JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award | All India Management Association (AIMA). |
- 2001 - 2006: In May 2006, for the fifth year running, he emerged the most admired business leader of India in a study conducted by Brand-comm, a leading Brand Consulting, Advertising and PR firm.
- 2006: In November 2006, TIMETimeTime is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
magazine 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 GandhiMahatma GandhiMohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
, Dalai LamaDalai LamaThe Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
, Mother TeresaMother TeresaMother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...
, and Muhammad Ali JinnahMuhammad Ali JinnahMuhammad Ali Jinnah was a Muslim lawyer, politician, statesman and the founder of Pakistan. He is popularly and officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam and Baba-e-Qaum ....
.
- 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. The EconomistThe EconomistThe Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
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.
- 2004: TIMETimeTime is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
magazine’s “Global Tech Influential” list (August 2004) named Murthy as one of the ten leaders who are helping shape the future of technology.
- 2001: He was named by TIMETimeTime is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
/ CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
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: BusinessWeekBusinessWeekBloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
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).
External links
- Profile at InfosysInfosysInfosys Limited, formerly Infosys Technologies Limited is a global technology services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It is the second largest IT exporter in India with 133,560 employees as of March 2011. It has offices in 33 countries and development centers in India, China,...
- Profile at ForbesForbesForbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
- N. R. Narayana Murthy collected news and commentary at The Times of IndiaThe Times of IndiaThe Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...