‘One needs to fight, not succumb to bribery’

Speaking at the 10th anniversary of the Indian Business School, Bangalore, at the Infosys campus on Tuesday, founder-chairman of Infosys, NR Narayana Murthy, recalled that in 1984, as he chose not to bribe officials, he had to cough up an amount of Rs10 lakh that he might otherwise have saved.

“We in the IT sector are lucky, as 98% of markets are outside India. We don’t have to deal much with the government. Unfortunately, for people in manufacturing, things are not smooth. But there are changes, and things are getting better,” Murthy said, as he spoke on  ‘Entrepreneurship and social change’.

Murthy held that entrepreneurship can lead to social change, and that India was in dire need of it. “The situation in India is enigmatic. On the one hand, we have been registering a growth of 8.5% in gross domestic product (GDP). On the other hand, there is also a significant section that struggles. There are 650 million people dependant on agriculture in the country. Together, this section does not contribute more than 25% to the GDP. There is a need to create more jobs, and that can be done only with greater entrepreneurship,” Murthy said, adding, “In the long run, a healthy environment will help build entrepreneurs.”

Ramesh Ramanathan, co-founder, Janaagraha said, “One should not look down on social business and treat it as some part-time hobby. The scenario and scope for such entrepreneurship is much better today than it was 20 years ago.”

Speaking of the bother that setting up a business might be, given the level of corruption, K Jairaj, additional chief secretary, said, “There is a positive change within the government. Though the pace is slow, things are getting better. One needs to fight the system, not succumb to bribery.”