Feudalism responsible for Satyam fiasco: N R Narayana Murthy

Technology services titan and founder chairman of Infosys Technologies N R Narayana Murthy has had a deep impact on the

$60 billion IT industry which grew on the back of global sourcing of services. Over the years Mr Murthy has delivered over a 100 lectures on various fora spanning the world. Some of those select lectures on topics ranging from globalization, corporate governance, leadership and entrepreneurship are now part of the just published book: A Better India A Better World. In a 72-minute interview with ET at the company's guest house in South Delhi, Mr Murthy talks about the book, the political scene, the Satyam episode and its impact on India Inc and what the country now needs and more. Excerpts from the interview:

What all have you touched upon in this book and how are the lectures relevant now?

While the country has made considerable progress in the last 18 years after the first wave of economic reforms we are still lagging. We have one of the highest GDP growths in the world, our exports are much larger than what they were 10 years ago, our software industry has brought tremendous laurels to India, we have done well in technology industry, production and even in sports.

Yet we have been unable to redeem the pledge that our founding fathers took when India got independence. That is to provide decent access to education, nutrition, healthcare and welfare to the poorest of the poor. India has the largest mass of illiterates in the world, largest mass of poor people in the world, 250 million people don't have access to safe drinking water, 650 million people do not have access to decent sanitation. So this whole paradigm of 8-9% GDP growth becomes somewhat irrelevant when you look at these aspects.

So the real challenge we have is to bring inclusive growth. In order to bring inclusive growth in a country like India we need to solve three pieces of development -- first is creating a public opinion that values good work ethic, honesty, discipline, secularism. Second, we need to develop a cadre of leadership who espouse these values and serve as role models and demonstrate leadership by example. Third, we need the determination of the elite and the powerful in the society to eschew creation of asymmetry of benefits in their favour vis-à-vis the common man. Only when these three conditions are fulfilled will we be able to create a fair, just, equitable and inclusive growth in our society. In essence this is the fundamental thesis on which the book is based.

I have all along said that people practicing values, leaders leading by example and the elite and the powerful relating to the realities are absolutely essential for a country and a company to make progress. In some sense, on a very small, simple canvas I have painted a very simple drawing at Infosys and that painting has been reasonably successful.

Based on that experience I have been talking to people, students, in India and abroad, to enlightened citizens on various issues within this framework of values and leadership and those pieces form the basic gist of this book.