Early Life
Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, often known as Narayana Murthy, was born in Mysore, Karnataka, on August 20, 1946.
Despite being born into a middle-class household and overcoming several obstacles as a youngster, he demonstrated remarkable intellectual brilliance.
Narayana Murthy earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Mysore before going on to get his master’s degree from the famed Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
He went on to serve as a Research Associate at IIM Ahmedabad after finishing his degree.
Murthy’s career grew, and he was named Chief Systems Programmer at IIM. He worked on India’s first time-sharing computer system while there.
In addition, for Electronics Corporation of India Ltd., he devised and built a BASIC interpreter. Despite this, he has always had a strong ambition to start his own business.
What inspired Narayana Murthy to start his own business?
Murthy had strong Marxist ideals in his early years, but this all changed during a train ride in 1974. On the train through Nis, a town on the border of Serbia and Bulgaria, Narayan struck up a discussion with a girl who only spoke French.
This, however, irritated the youngster who was with her, prompting the cops to intervene. Murthy was detained in Bulgaria by police, who took his passport and bags and pulled him onto the platform.
Murthy spent the next 72 hours in an 8X8 cell with basic bathroom facilities, according to him. In these circumstances, one would expect polite treatment at the very least, but Murthy was also refused food and water for 72 hours.
Murthy recalls the soldiers telling him, “Look, you are from a friendly nation named India, therefore we are letting you leave, but we will give you your passport when you arrive in Istanbul.”
Murthy pondered the fact that if a government abuses its allies in this manner, he would never want to be a member of a communist country.
Murthy was transformed from a befuddled lefty to a committed compassionate capitalist as a result of this tragedy. This fueled his ambition to become an entrepreneur even more.
Narayana Murthy’s Entrepreneurship Journey
Narayana Murthy’s foray into entrepreneurship was fraught with difficulties. He was just dating his future wife Sudha Murthy at the time.
Her father, on the other hand, was not impressed with Murthy’s business concept. Murthy was expected to have a job with a steady income, according to him. During this time, Murthy established Softronics, an IT firm for the domestic market, in Pune.
Although this was his first foray into entrepreneurship, the enterprise did not last long. Softronics went out of business 1.5 years after it was founded.
Murthy thereafter became the General Manager of Patni Computer Systems. This enabled him to marry Sudha Murthy the following year, in 1978.
Sudha, on the other hand, realised that her husband was now locked in the corporate world, which he urgently wished to leave.
She offered him Rs. 10,000 from her funds and three years to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams. She assured him that she would take care of the home.
Narayana Murthy met with six of his software engineering buddies at his residence in January 1981 to form a firm.
Hence On July 2, 1981, Infosys Consultants Pvt. Ltd. was established.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Narayan Murthy is worth $ 3.5 billion now. His achievement, however, is also due to the unwavering support he got from his wife, Sudha Murthy. He has also made major contributions to charitable causes through the Infosys Foundation.
Murthy received the Padma Shri award from the Government of India in 2000 for his major contribution to the country’s IT sector and economy.
He is widely referred to as the “Father of the IT Sector” after Time magazine identified him as such.
