After Murthy's comment, govt says no proposal to have 70-hour work week

Infosys founder had said young people should work more for India's progress

The government is not considering any proposal to have a 70-hour work week, the government told Lok Sabha on Monday after comments by Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy sparked a debate.

Murthy, in a podcast conversation with former Infosys human resources director TV Mohandas Pai in October, said India’s work productivity is one of the lowest in the world and young people must shoulder the responsibility for progress.

“Therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say, 'This is my country; I’d like to work 70 hours a week, '” said Murthy.

Rameswar Teli, minister of state in the labour ministry, told Lok Sabha: “No such proposal is under consideration of [the] Government of India,” He answered in response to a question on whether the government is evaluating 70-hour work week in order to make the country competitive and increase productivity.

 

Workers unions have criticised Murthy and said a 70-hour work week would be “illegal”.

"Employees should not be forced to work more than 48 hours a week, which comes up to eight hours daily for a six-day work week. With increasing automation, there needs to be a constant reduction in working hours to have more creative and leisure time, which in turn improves productivity," said All India IT and ITeS Employee Union in a statement earlier.

Karnataka amended the Factories Act, 1948, earlier this year to allow work hours up to 12 hours daily but restricted to 48 hours a week as earlier. Beyond 48 hours companies need to pay overtime.