Murthy to retire from Infy tomorrow

Bangalore: Throughout his career, N R Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys Technologies, has defied the customs of his native land.

He was an entrepreneur in a nation dominated by family businesses, a modest-living executive in a country where the rich are known for their excess, and on Sunday, when he steps down as chairman of the company he founded 25 years ago, he'll become that most rare species of Indian business leader - the one who gives it all up.

His reason for leaving the firm he founded says much about the man and his company - Murthy on Sunday turns 60, the mandatory retirement age at Infosys, arguably India's first professionally run company.

Murthy said relinquishing all executive power at Infosys ''is like giving your daughter away in marriage.''

''You are happy because she has grown up to be what she is - a confident youngster, that she has joined somebody with whom she finds joy, happiness and all of that,'' he told The Associated Press in a recent interview. ''At the same time, you remain anxious about her, you feel a sense of loss.''

The son of a mathematics teacher, he and six other friends founded Infosys in 1981 with just US$1,000 in startup capital.

But they spotted early the potential in the software services industry, and Infosys has since grown into an outsourcing giant with revenues last year of US$2.15 billion. The Indian outsourcing industry Infosys helped create is now worth a total of US$23 billion.

Infosys has also scored a number of firsts in India. It is the country's first global company, with more than 90 percent of its revenues coming from overseas; it was the first company here to adopt a code of corporate transparency; the first to offer stock options to employees; and the first to list shares in the United States, on the Nasdaq in 1999.

''We have raised the confidence of entrepreneurs in the country,'' said Murthy, who has been among Business Week magazine's ''The Stars of Asia,'' and in 2004 was named one of the 10 global technology leaders by Time magazine.

''Today, no matter where you go in India, if you talk to entrepreneurs in the country, they would say, 'We want to be like Infosys,''' Murthy said.

Murthy added that he would like, in the coming years, to see Infosys considered among the top 10 information technology companies in each of the other 20 countries it operates in.

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About his own plans, he's not so certain.

He'll continue to mentor people at Infosys, and remains on the boards of several Indian companies. He is also a member of the prime minister's economic advisory council and an IT adviser to several Asian governments.

The bespectacled computer engineer, with dark circles under his eyes, said he's charmed by the idea of teaching at a university. It would make him ''feel young,'' he said.

''There are opportunities in India and outside to go and teach at a business school.''

Indeed. He's currently a trustee on the board of Cornell University, and has ties to Harvard Business School, Yale University and the Indian Institute of Management.

He dismissed speculation about a run for public office, insisting he's ''not cut out for politics.''

What seems certain, however, is that Murthy will continue to buck the trend in India and live modestly, despite his great wealth, estimated at US$1.2 billion.

A Leftist during his student days at the respected Indian Institute of Technology, Murthy believes in distributing the wealth, and stock options at Infosys have created many millionaires.

Murthy, meanwhile, reportedly earned US$93,000 in cash compensation last year, and took home no capital compensation. In contrast, his counterpart at rival Wipro Technologies Ltd - Azim Premji - got about US$569,000 in cash alone.

As for charity, Murthy won't discuss his good works. ''You don't do charity for publicity,'' he said.

But perhaps most surprising for an Indian company are Infosys' bylaws, which keep the founders' family members from taking over the company.

His son Rohan, a Cornell student, ''has to run his own marathon,'' he said. ''He should create another Infosys.''