Narayana Murthy reveals why he founded Infosys: 'It was an experiment in...'

Narayana Murthy had established Infosys in 1981 with six other engineers with the idea that the firm is an “experiment in entrepreneurship” – a company of the professionals, for the professionals and by the professionals.

Infosys was founded in Pune and is headquartered in Bangalore. Infosys is the second-largest Indian IT company, after Tata Consultancy Services, by 2020 revenue figures.

When during a recent interview Narayan Murthy was asked about his venture Infosys by TV Mohandas Pai of venture capital firm 3one4 Capital in an episode of The Record, the Infosys co-founder said, “When I founded Infosys, it was to conduct an experiment in entrepreneurship,” he explained. “I wanted to create a company of the professional, for the professional and by the professional.”

Infosys provides software development, maintenance and independent validation services to companies in finance, insurance, manufacturing and other domains.

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Murthy, himself a limited partner in the Bengaluru-based early-stage VC firm, will appear in the first episode of The Record in conversation with its chairman Mohandas Pai. A trailer of the episode was released today and it shows Murthy, 77, explaining why he decided to set up Infosys.

Murthy also offered his insights on technology, calling it a “great leveller.”

“There is no democracy in execution. A committee cannot make a decision. It is the architect who uses creativity to design a building, but a bricklayer cannot say I will lay one brick like this, another one like this – it doesn’t work,” the billionaire entrepreneur told Mohandas Pai, former CFO and board member of Infosys.

Launched with an initial capital of $250, which its seven co-founders mostly borrowed from their spouses, Infosys is today India’s second-largest IT firm.

Earlier in August this year, N R Narayana Murthy had said democracy works best in an environment of pluralism, where every citizen has the freedom to practice one's own belief and faith without imposing it on others.

Murthy said that democracy in India will prosper only if a mindset is created that highlights the commonalities of various beliefs rather than the differences.

"US President Franklin D Roosevelt defined true democracy as having four freedoms. These are freedom of expression, freedom of faith, freedom from fear and freedom from want.

“Democracy works best in an environment of pluralism where every citizen has the freedom to practice one's own belief and faith without imposing it on others, without hampering the progress of others,” Murthy said.