TMS Ep554: 70-hr work week, Delhi choking, Mamaearth, whole-time directors

Narayana Murthy recently joined the list of global tech leaders like Elon Musk and Jack Ma who want workers to commit long working hours. Murthy wants young Indians to work 70 hours a week to catch up with the better performing countries. His suggestion has ignited a debate. While some agree with Murthy, others don’t. Infosys chairman’s suggestion also stood in sharp contrast to India’s labour laws which have proposed to cap weekly working hours at 48. And also against the call for four-day a week work. So is Murthy’s 70-hour-work-week a fair ask? 

Unlike the western countries, workers in India face a lot of challenges on their way to work. One of them is pollution, which sometimes borders hazardous levels in metros. In Delhi, the skyline permanently disappears behind the haze during winter as farmers in neighbouring Haryana and Punjab start burning crop residues. This October too is no different. In our ongoing two-part series on pollution --where we covered Mumbai yesterday – we now find out why Delhi is choking? And what is the way out? 

Hope we find a solution to this recurring phenomenon which is taking a big toll on people’s health. Let us now move on to the financial markets. The IPO market is seeing a flush of new offers, defying the weakness in the secondary market. The recent offer of beauty and personal care brand Mamaearth is the talk of the town. So with two more days left for subscription, is the IPO really worth it? 

Moving on, the Reserve Bank of India has directed private sector banks and wholly-owned subsidiaries of foreign banks to have at least two whole-time directors in addition to the MD and CEO. But who are these whole-time directors? Listen to this episode of the podcast for answers.