“Nothing Should Be Given Free”: Infosys Founder Narayana Murthy (Image:Facebook/narayanamurthy)
As five of the Indian states are witnessing legislative assembly elections and the parties in the forefront are competing with promises of freebies, the Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy said that “nothing should be given free”. Narayana Murthy was addressing the 26th edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2023 and urged people who avail the services and subsidies from the Government to contribute back to the advancement of the society.
Mr Murthy stressed the importance of ‘compassionate capitalism’, a form of capitalism which focuses on social responsibility and sustainable practices. It is an embodiment of conscious capitalism, which is entirely different from the form of the traditional ‘profit at all cost’ model of capitalism, and here the businesses have a responsibility to contribute to the society’s well-being. According to Mr Murthy, only compassionate capitalism could help a poor nation like India to become a prosperous one.
Mr Murthy suggested that there should be something in return, that the beneficiaries are willing to do, for all the free services and subsidies provided for them by the government. He added an example, “if you say – I will give you free electricity, then it would have been a very nice thing for the government to have said, but we want to see the percentage attendance in primary schools and middle schools go up by 20 per cent, then only we will give you that”.
He encouraged the practice of nothing should be given free without demanding a reasonable contribution from the citizen back, to make a better society. He also stated that he was not against free services but suggested the freebies should make the recipients a little bit responsible towards drafting their own future. Narayana Murthy made these advices amid state legislative assembly elections in the five states of the nation. During the time, all the major political parties hosted elaborate poll campaigns, in which the poll-promises given to the voters with several freebies made the centre attraction.
Mr Murthy supported the taxation processes and urged that in a country like India where a large mass comprised of ‘poor’ category people, the tycoons of capitalism must accept they should pay a higher level of taxation. This will enable the government to boost up their public services and more, such a system will benefit to craft an “efficient, corruption-free and effective public goods in our country”. “The taxation will have to be obviously higher than what you see in developed countries”, he added.
The 77-year-old IT veteran is an Indian billionaire businessman and one of the seven co-founders of Infosys. He previously served as the chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president, and chief mentor of Infosys before retiring and taking the title chairman emeritus.
