Infy chief's sure politics is not his cup of tea

BANGALORE: Infosys chief mentor NR Narayana Murthy says his 22-year-old son Rohan does not want to step into his shoes and hinted he may have a venture of his own.

“I think he (Rohan) is much smarter than I am. So, he probably will have some good ideas on what he wants to do,” Mr Murthy told agencies. “No, not at all,” was Mr Murthy’s reply when asked if Rohan, who is doing his PhD at Harvard and right now on internship at Microsoft, has evinced interest to step into his shoes at Infosys.

“Whatever he wants to do, our (his and his wife Sudha’s) encouragement will always be there. And, we will be happy to support him,” he said. Mr Murthy’s 26-year-old daughter Akshata has just finished her MBA from Stanford.

Asked if he has plans to set up any start-up firms, Mr Murthy said he does not have any such thing on his mind at this point of time. Mr Murthy, who founded and nurtured Infosys for 25 years making it a world-class company, does not want to dabble in politics post-retirement as he feels he is not suited for that.

“I have no desire to enter politics. Because I am not suited for that,” Mr Murthy said. “It’s simply because I have some experience in working with a set of homogenous people that is well educated, whose objectives are very much aligned with mine... People who believe in certain values.” On the other hand, he said, politics in India is a ‘very complex canvas’ with multiple divides — urban and rural, rich and poor, and educated and not so educated. “So, I don’t think I am competent to handle such a complex canvas.”

Asked if he thought politicians want the status-quo to continue, without empowering people, so they can continue to have a free will, Mr Murthy said he understands why different politicians take different stands because they are looking at it from their vantage point. “It’s like the elephant and the six blind men kind of stuff.

Everybody is right. But the challenge we have is how to make sure that all six people come together, describe the points of view, discuss, debate and come out with an integrated view to help society. So, it’s a big challenge,” he said.