Narayana Murthy and Infosys

"A true leader is one who leads by example and sacrifices more than anyone else, in his or her pursuit of excellence."

- N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys.

"The US. has discovered India's high-tech industry, and the credit is largely due to shy, unflappable engineer N.R. Narayana Murthy."

- Business Week, June 14, 1999

Introduction

In February 2001, Infosys Technologies Ltd. (Infosys)¹ was voted as the Best Managed Company in Asia in the Information Technology sector, in leading financial magazine Euromoney's Fifth Annual Survey of Best Managed Companies in Asia. Infosys was started in 1981, by seven² professional entrepreneurs led by Narayana Murthy, Chairman and CEO of Infosys with an equity capital of Rs.10,000.

By 2000, Infosys' market capitalization reached Rs.11 billion and by 2001, Infosys was one of the biggest exporters of software from India.

Narayana Murthy had built an organization that was respected across the country, with very strong systems, high ethical values and a nurturing working atmosphere.

With his sound management skills, Narayana Murthy seemed to have taken Infosys to the pinnacle of success in two decades.

From a turnover of Rs.1.16 million in 1981, Infosys had grown to a Rs.19 billion company in 2001. (Refer Tables I and II) There were many firsts to Narayana Murthy's credit.

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1] Infosys, based in Bangalore (Karnataka), is a publicly held, ISO-9001 certified company offering information technology consulting and software services to Fortune 1000 companies. The software services offered include application development (on a fixed-time and fixed-fee basis), E-Commerce and Internet consulting, software maintenance.

2] Nandan Nilekani, S.Gopalakrishnan, K. Dinesh, S.B.Shibulal, N.S.Raghavan, Ashok Arora (left Infosys in 1983)

Case Details

Case Code : LDEN003
Themes: Corporate Social Responsibility, Great Leaders
Case Length : 8 Pages
Period : 1981-2001
Organization : Infosys
Pub Date : 2002
Teaching Note : Available
Countries : India
Industry : Software

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