Narayana Murthy was born on August 20, 1946, in Sidlaghatta, a town in the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka into a middle-class Hindu family.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Mysore in 1967 and two years later completed his master’s degree in technology from IIT Kanpur in 1969.
During the 1970s, Murthy worked in Paris, where he contributed to the development of an operating system for air cargo management at Charles de Gaulle Airport.
After returning to India, he worked for a computer systems company in Pune before embarking on his entrepreneurial journey.
In 1978, he married Sudha Murty, who is now a renowned author, philanthropist and member of the Rajya Sabha. The couple has two children, Rohan and Akshata.
With an initial investment of just ₹10,000, borrowed from his wife, Narayana Murthy founded Infosys with six fellow computer professionals in 1981. The company is headquartered in Bengaluru.
In 1999, Infosys made history by becoming the first Indian company to be listed on an American stock exchange, Nasdaq.
He retired as the CEO of Infosys in 2003, leaving behind a company that had transformed the Indian IT landscape. Beyond his business acumen, Murthy is a dedicated philanthropist.
Along with his wife, he established the Infosys Foundation, which focuses on rural development, education, healthcare, arts and culture and destitute care in backward regions of India.
His contributions to India and the global tech industry have earned him numerous accolades, including the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award.
His legacy is not just in the empire he built but in the values he championed, which are leadership, integrity and social responsibility.
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