Narayana Murthy’s Success Story: Today we look at Infosys as a behemoth in the global IT sector. But this all started with Narayana Murthy’s home office with Rs. 10,000 of borrowed capital from his wife.
If you know the Indian IT Industry, you would definitely have heard the name, Narayana Murthy. But do you know how he started his company and became a legend? In this article, we take a look at Narayana Murthy’s success story. Keep Reading to find out!
Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, popularly known as Narayana Murthy or NRN Murthy was born on August 20, 1946, in Mysore, Karnataka.
Despite being born into a middle-class family and facing several other hurdles he showed significant academic brilliance during his childhood.
Narayana Murthy received his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Mysore and went on to pursue his Masters at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
After completing his education Narayana Murthy went on to work as a Research Associate at IIM Ahmedabad.
His career progressed and Murthy was appointed as the Chief Systems Programmer at IIM. Here he worked on India’s first time-sharing computer system.
In addition to this, he also designed and implemented a BASIC interpreter for Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. But despite achieving this he always had a burning desire to venture into entrepreneurship.
What pushed Narayana Murthy to Become an Entrepreneur?
In his early years, Murthy shared strong leftist values but this all changed on a train journey in 1974. While passing through Nis, a town bordering Serbia and Bulgaria, Narayan engaged in conversation with a girl who only spoke French on the train.
However, this upset the boy accompanying her who got the police involved. The police in Bulgaria arrested Murthy taking away his passport and luggage and also dragged him onto the platform.
Murthy spent the next 72 hours in what he describes as an 8X8 cell with primitive toilet facilities. One would at least expect civil treatment in these circumstances but Murthy was also denied any food or drink during these 72 hours.
He was finally released and Murthy recalls the guards stating, “Look, you are from a friendly country called India, so we are letting you go but we will give you your passport when you reach Istanbul.”
Murthy wondered that if a country treats its friends in such a manner he would never want to be part of a communist country.
This whole ordeal turned Murthy from a confused leftist to a determined compassionate capitalist. This further built his desire to become an entrepreneur.
<h3>Narayana Murthy’s Entrepreneurial Journey</h3>
Narayana Murthy’s entry into entrepreneurship was filled with obstacles. At the time he was only dating his future wife Sudha Murthy.
However, her father did not appreciate Murthy’s entrepreneurial plan. He expected Murthy to have a job with a stable income. During this period Murthy founded a company in Pune called Softronics- an IT firm for the domestic market.
Although this marked his entry into entrepreneurship the venture did not survive for long. Softronics closed down 1.5 years after its inception.
Murthy then joined Patni Computer Systems as General Manager. This allowed him to marry Sudha Murthy a year later in 1978.
However, Sudha noticed that her husband has now stuck in the corporate world a place he desperately wanted to get out of.
She gave him Rs. 10,000 from her savings and 3 years to explore his desire for entrepreneurship. She told him not to worry as she would take care of the household.
In January 1981, Narayana Murthy met with 6 of his software engineering friends at his apartment to create a company.