For the Love of writing...
Saturday, May 31, 2008
  Infosys.

Every time I read about Infosys on some news websites there are a handfull of stupid cynical people who call it all crap and then go on to boast of facts that have no standing or no proof. And then we have quite a few politicians who blame this company in a rouge attempt to garner votes. They make their mightyfull yet wasted attempts at criticizing the company, their founders and whatever little things their small knee-cap fitted brains can figure out.

So those people who hate Infosys or for that matter its much celebrated typical middle class Indian looking founder Narayan Murthy, I can take a bet that if you are a software guy then you might have been rejected by Infosys in a job interview. Else you are one of those who have little understanding of the bigger dynamics of this world and keep on ranting with your frog in the well view. And India has lot of guys like you. And you are what NRN managed to break out of and build this company and a brand for India in this world. Whatever people like you may say but NRN's contribution to this country is unfathomable; something that cannot be quantified on status rating, Forbes richest list, or for that matter the number of votes he may have secured had he contested for the presidential post or for anything. Hats off to a guy like this. India is proud of you sir...

Infosys is one great company that has created a name for itself and for the software industry as a whole. It employs 80,000 people all of which are good paying jobs. (Compare it with you’re your parents earned when they were 25 and discount it for inflation, if you can do that, and then say that these are not good paying jobs.)

When a company like Infosys creates a good job it is not just a single job created. It leads to what is called as Intrinsic Growth in the economy.

See it as I see the world.

When Infosys adds 25,000 jobs this year it means 25,000 new homes will be bought by these new employees, 25000 new mobile phones, 25000 x 4= 100,000 well fed people shopping and buying goods and stuff and services. These people will hire 25,000 maid- servants for their comfort. Another 100 malls will be opened to enable these people to spend their money. This creates job opportunities for the under-educated mall attendant or for the uneducated maidservant whom they hire, who otherwise had little hope for themselves thereby kick starting the economy on a whole. This is intrinsic growth. This is called wealth generation.

These software companies bring foreign currency into India, of which we have today more than $200 Billion, but a day when we had less than $20 million. Without these huge amount of reserves could it have been possible for the Tata’s to think of buying out Corus or for the innumerable small and mid sized companies from various sectors to forward and backward integrate their business by picking up controlling stakes in their foreign counterparts.

For the uninitiated people about the greatness of this company, the man behind it and his sacrifices, I advice you to read a few things and then comment. For anything that you say wrong or false, whatever religion you belong to, God will not be forgiving towards you as you are raising a finger against a pious soul.

Yes, you may call him a communist turned capitalist. You may criticize him for
whatever you want, for that is what our great democratic country bestows upon you as your fundamental right. Yet you may not alter facts and create stories out of the blue and say anything that comes to you mind.

I genuinely feel one thing. If there is a father of the nation, it is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. If there is a father of the IT Industry, it is Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy.

He brought about concepts like democratization of wealth, which were not existent a decade ago. Imagine the circumstances that might have existed when the company started when they would have to go to New Delhi to secure permission for a telephone connection.

Imagine a man keeping his wife’s ornaments as a guarantee to secure the payment of the monthly salary for his employees. Imagine yourself in his shoes. Would you have the guts to do that? If you did, would your wife let you sleep peacefully at home? Yet they did. Sudha Murthy didn’t object and N.R.N had no qualms about doing so. This is sacrifice. These are values. And above all this is true Love, something that has gone unnoticed for a decade and a half. Read Sudha Murthy’s writings if those interest you. N.R.N.’s article in the Economic Times where he talks about the three most important moments in his life is definitely a must read for all his fans.

For people who criticize him for making money for himself, though I do not have the actual statistics, the company gives sufficient amount of money for its social development schemes. And this is corporate social responsibility.

Look at the company financially. The company has grown from a small home run company without an office to one of the geographically well spread organization creating quality software. Growth has come at an annual average of 30% or more for this company for a sustained period of 15 years. Show me such an example other than the Microsoft’s and the Google’s of the world. That is where this company ranks.

People who have read biographies of entrepreneurs know very well that each of the very successful companies were started by 2 or three people as the founding members. Infosys would stand out in this respect and could possibly be the only company that had 7 founding members. However, for each of the founders, their unanimous leader was Narayan Murthy. This speaks more of his leadership skills and the belief that people had in his values than what I can write about.

Guys my only heart felt pain is that there is so much negative sentiment all around the world. Let us all at the very least feel good about something. About something great that has happened in India. We lost our Kohinoor. The BBC and Discovery create more features on Dharavi- the biggest slum in Asia than the Taj Mahal. We have been known as a place of Sadhu’s and snake charmers. Infosys and the software industry was the first time when the world stood up and took notice. The Tata Nano was the second time when the world realized that the so-called Third world countries are not Third World anymore. They are raring to be the First World ones and their Elephants are trumpeting against all the injustice that has been written on their history books. It is time we are conquering the world. And the world is taking notice of the men at the forefront. It is we who need to give them their much deserved respect and gratitude for what they have done for this country.

As a part of an Final disclaimer I would like to tell you that I am neither a relative of Narayan Murthy, or for that matter any of the people associated with Infosys. I have never been on the payrolls of Infosys (even though I would have loved to…)

I am a writer…a computer program writer. And when my heart feels pain it gushes out through my veins to my pens and then this is what I write. A heart felt writer and this was straight Dil Se...



 
Comments:
Good post. But my comment would be been there and seen that. Most of what you have written is well articulated and well written. But most of it, and if you dont mind, has been already read in newsprint. I would have liked it that it would have told me something i wouldnt know or said something from a different perspective. anyways went through your other blogs were quite an insight keep it up. I will be ready with my comments. Chow
 
Hey! Wonderful post! Actually I have never come across people who despise Mr. Narayana Murthy. It is really shocking to read that people actually think the way you have written. What I feel is that any person who has made it big and made it clean, deserves immense respect for his/her achievement. And Mr. Narayana Murthy is one person who deserves 100% unadulterated respect.
 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]





<< Home

Archives
April 2008 / May 2008 / July 2008 / September 2008 / April 2009 / October 2009 / February 2010 / April 2010 / October 2010 / November 2010 / February 2011 / March 2011 / April 2011 / June 2011 / August 2011 / October 2011 / March 2012 / November 2012 / September 2016 /


Subscribe to my blog. Enter your email address below. I'll send you a mail when a new post is published.

Delivered by FeedBurner