A hot potato: Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy is once again facing criticism for talking about the benefits of working every hour that you're awake. The Indian entrepreneur, who previously called for young people to work 70-hour weeks, has doubled down on this comment by stating he does not "believe in work-life balance."

In October 2023, Murthy suggested that young people work twelve-hour days for the "next 20 years, 50 years, whatever it is," out of a sense of duty to the nation and to support future generations. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi can work 100 hours per week, as do his cabinet ministers; therefore, citizens should show their appreciation by doing the same.

Murthy's appeal comes despite the fact that working 70-hour weeks violates Indian labor laws and is considered illegal in the country.

Murthy doubled down on his views in January. At the recent CNBC Global Leadership Summit, he was asked if he still stood by his 70-hour-week proposal. "Absolutely," he said. "I don't believe in work-life balance […] I have not changed my view; I will take this with me to my grave," he told CNBC-TV18.

Murthy seems to have an equal amount of hatred for taking weekends off as he does for spending a day not working until you pass out. He expressed his lament when companies moved from a six-day work week to a five-day work week in 1986.

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"I was not very happy with that. I think in this country, we have to work very hard because there is no substitute for hard work even if you're the most intelligent guy," he said.

Murthy, who is the father-in-law of former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, highlighted post-WW2 Japan and Germany as shining examples of hard work and high productivity. "We owe it to the poor people to work hard and make the quality of their life a little bit better," he said.

Murthy said that he used to go into the office at 6.20 a.m. every day and go home at 8.30 p.m. – 14 hours each day – for six and a half days a week until he retired.

When asked if he regretted not spending more time with his children instead of working, he said quality was more important than quantity, and that the hour and a half to two hours he spent with the children at dinner when he returned home were "lots of fun."

There have been plenty of studies that show working excessive amounts of hours can harm productivity rather than increase it. In Japan, there have been cases of people dying from overwork, leading the country to introduce measures to prevent this practice.

In August, Infosys made headlines for allegedly stringing along thousands of recent engineering graduates for years after extending job offers and making them go through weeks of unpaid training. The company was also criticized for forcing employees back to the office in April.