That’s a good thing, since Murthy is now a multimillionaire, heading one of India’s biggest software companies. Bangalore-based Infosys, launched by Murthy and six other computer jocks 18 years ago, is the pride of India’s Silicon Plateau. The company, which had revenues last year of $121 million, produces software for forecasting business and market trends. Nordstrom, an American fashion retailer, uses its software to forecast demand and plan purchases. Infosys software also helps the U.S. telecom equipment provider Nortel track the wireless-phone market. Thanks to cheap Indian labor, Infosys has flourished by offering quality software at cut-rate prices. So hot is the company that it was the first (and remains the only) Indian company to list on the Nasdaq Stock Market in March. Its shares have since quadrupled in value–bringing its market cap to an impressive $6.7 billion.
Going high tech in low-tech India hasn’t been easy. In the early 1980s, when huge tariffs kept out most foreign products, Murthy and his partners could hardly afford to buy computers. They pushed skeptical officials to lift 300 percent duties on computers–allowing the Indian high-tech industry to get its start. Since launching the company with their pooled savings of $1,200, the founders have paid top rupee to hire talent. (Engineers earn some $400 a month compared with a per capita annual income of $370.) Infosys’s foreign-trained founders introduced a profit-sharing scheme, too. “Our human assets walk out every evening physically and mentally tired,” says Murthy, 53. “We must make sure they come back next morning fresh and enthusiastic.” A former canteen boy, who used to serve tea, now runs the cafeteria and holds enough company stock to be counted as a rupee millionaire. The landscaped, 42-acre “campus” is relaxed and nonhierarchical, with flexible working hours and plenty of informal exchanges between young engineers and executives.
Murthy hasn’t totally abandoned his socialist ideals. Unlike the typical flashy Indian tycoon, Infosys executives dress simply and drive locally made cars. Murthy lives in an average three-bedroom house. The Infosys founders have set up a foundation to provide health and education for the poor. Nandan Nilekani, managing director, who just donated $1.7 million to his engineering college, says: “We all wanted to do something for our country.” They have.
