Narayana Murthy, the legendary Indian billionaire businessman, is one of the seven founders of IT consulting titan Infosys and the company’s former chairman and chief executive officer.
Following his retirement from Infosys, Murthy has taken the title of chairman emeritus, which he still holds to this very day.
As of 2024, Narayana Murthy’s net worth is estimated at $4.1 billion.
The legendary leader and co-founder of the tech giant Infosys has an impressive career behind him. He spent 30 years with the company before his first retirement in 2011, going back to it in 2013, and leaving again in 2017.
Keep reading to learn more about the tech mogul and his rise to wealth and fame.
Narayana Murthy’s Net Worth in 2024
- $4.1 billion net worth from Infosys stake and earnings.
- Co-founded Infosys with a $126 loan from his wife.
- Infosys became a leading IT services company.
- Lives modestly despite significant wealth.
- Involved in philanthropy and education.
5 Fun Facts about the Infosys CEO
- Co-founded Infosys in 1981 with six professionals.
- Known as the “Father of the Indian IT sector.”
- Holds honorary degrees from multiple universities, including Lancaster and Concordia.
- Married to Sudha Murty, an author and philanthropist.
- His daughter, Akshata Murty, is married to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Narayana Murthy’s Net Worth: Full Breakdown
Murthy’s fortune isn’t easy to pin down.
He’s a pioneering figure in the Indian IT industry, and his contributions to Infosys have made him one of the richest people in India.
However, to this day, Murthy remains a very private, modest person. He hasn’t lived the lavish life many rich people are accustomed to, doesn’t own any luxurious assets, and has gifted more of Infosys stock to his family than he owns today.
Our research has allowed us to get an estimate of what Murthy is worth today, pinpointing the majority of his fortune to his stake in Infosys, as well as his earnings from the company over the years.
Here is a breakdown of his main earnings and assets:
| Asset or Income Source | Contribution to Net Worth |
| Infosys investment | -₹10,000 ($126) |
| Infosys stake | $262.6 million, 0.36% |
| Infosys salary and bonuses | Undisclosed |
| Total Net Worth | $4.1 billion |
Narayana Murthy Net Worth: Early Life, Education, and Family
Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy (often known as N.R. Narayana Murthy or just Narayana Murthy) was born in Sidlaghatta, Karnataka, on August 20, 1946. He was born and raised in a middle-class Hindu family.
Murthy was an exceptional student, which led him to enroll at the National Institute of Engineering straight out of high school, graduating in 1967 with a degree in electrical engineering.
Following his graduation, he enrolled in a Master’s program at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), which he completed in 1969.
Fast forward to 2007 when Murthy was already an established businessman in India, he received an honorary degree from Lancaster University. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate by Concordia University in 2007 and the University of London in 2019.
As for his personal life, Narayana Murthy is married to Sudha Murthy. His wife is widely recognized as Sudha Murty, using a different spelling based on Sanskrit tradition. She explained:
Sanskrit is the perfect language, and for every pronunciation, there is a letter. And Murthy in Sanskrit is, you know, Narayana Murty, Vasudeva Murty, this is a kind of name where you can visualize that. Murthy is a statue. So it cannot be ‘THY’
Sudha Murty is an author, educator, philanthropist, and former chairperson of the non-profit Infosys Foundation.
The couple has two children, a daughter, Akshata Murty (married to the British politician Rishi Sunak), and a son, Rohan Murthy. His daughter Akshata is a designer, while Rohan worked at Infosys as his father’s executive assistant until 2014.
Narayana Murthy Net Worth: The Research Associate Turns Business Founder and a Billionaire
Narayana Murthy wasn’t born or raised rich. His first business venture wasn’t a success either, and at one point, he wasn’t earning enough money to convince his father-in-law to accept him as his son-in-law.
However, with some hard work and a lot of perseverance, Murthy turned from a research associate into a billionaire. Let’s see how he achieved all this.
Narayana Murthy’s Early Career Days
After graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology, Narayana Murthy started working as a research associate and later chief systems programmer at the IIM Ahmedabad.
At this time, he was dating his wife Sudha Murty, but since he was earning little money, Sudha’s father was opposed to his request to marry her.
In his early career, Murthy designed a BASIC interpreter for the Electronics Corporation of India Limited.
He then decided to start his first business called Softronics. The business didn’t survive on the market for long, forcing Murthy to close it after about a year and a half.
After a short search for a new job, at the end of 1977, N.R. Narayana Murthy landed a job as a general manager for Patni Computer Systems in Pune, which convinced Sudha’s father to approve their marriage. On February 10, 1978, the couple got married.
The Founding of Infosys
In 1981, Narayana Murthy founded Infosys using a loan of Rs 10,000 (around $126) from his wife as seed capital. His wife would later say that she thought this was an unnecessary risk, and that she told her husband at the time that they already had well-paying jobs and didn’t need this new business.
“I had Rs 10,250 in my savings. I saved Rs 250 for myself and gave him the rest because he failed in his earlier venture Softronics, so I took a risk,” she said.
Narayana Murthy co-founded Infosys with six software professionals using the initial capital investment provided by his wife. From the outset of the business, Murthy took the position of chief executive officer of the company, remaining at its helm for 21 years between 1981 and 2002.
Infosys’ Success
Today, Infosys Limited (a name it has used since 2011) is a multinational information technology that provides:
- Business consulting
- Outsourcing services
- Information technology services
Infosys is now the second-largest IT company in India with Murphy taking a lot of the credit for its success. In August 2021, the business became the fourth Indian company to reach $100 billion in market capitalization. This was also the very first Indian company to be listed on the NASDAQ, in 1999.
The company grew tremendously during Murthy’s leadership. In 2002, Murthy was succeeded in the CEO position by Nandan Nilekani, one of the business’ other co-founders, and instead took on the role of chairman of Infosys’ board.
In 2006, he switched from chairman of the board to chief mentor of Infosys until 2011, when he retired from the company, this time retaining the title of chairman emeritus.
Even though he retired, in June 2013, the business came calling, so Narayana Murthy decided to go back, this time to be Infosys’ executive chairman and director.
He didn’t remain in these positions for long, though. In 2014, he stood down as executive chairman of the company and continued to work there as a non-executive chairman until October, when he once again became its chairman emeritus.
More recently, in 2017, Murthy was in the news for raising concerns about Infosys’ alleged corporate governance lapses, which the business denies. This controversy led to the resignation of the CEO and prompted the return of another retiree, the co-founder Nandan Nilekani, as non-executive chairman.
Narayana Murthy’s Stake in Infosys
While the details of how much he earned in all those positions at the company remain undisclosed, we know that Murthy still holds a minority stake in the company, amounting to 0.36% of Infosys’ shares.
He reportedly owned 0.40% not long before, but he gifted a portion of his stake in the company to Ekagrah Rohan Murty, his grandson.
His wife Sudha Murty, on the other hand, now owns considerably more Infosys shares than her husband. She holds 0.93% of Infosys shares.
His daughter, Akshata Murty, reportedly owns a 1.05% stake in the company, while son, Rohan Murty, owns 1.64%.
Based on the market capitalization of Infosys in May 2024, which is ₹6.06 trillion ($72.72 billion), Narayana Murthy’s 0.36% stake in the business is worth around $261.7 million today.
Awards and Accolades
It’s no secret that Narayana Murthy is one of the biggest names in the Indian business scene and the IT industry around the world.
He has been chosen as one of the 12 greatest entrepreneurs of our times by Fortune and described as “the father of the Indian IT sector” by CNBC and Time magazine.
Let’s take a closer look at the most prestigious awards he has won over the years:
- 2000: Awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India
- 2002: Appointed IET Honorary Fellow by the Institution of Engineering and Technology
- 2003: Won Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year
- 2007: Named Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- 2008: Awarded Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India
- 2009: Won the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship
- 2012: Awarded the Hoover Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
- 2013: Chosen as Philanthropist of the Year by The Asian Awards
- 2022: Won Kempegowda Award by BBMP
Narayana Murthy Net Worth: Other Businesses, Assets, & More
In addition to his work with Infosys, which most likely contributes the biggest portion of his net worth, Narayana Murthy has been involved in several other high-profile businesses. He has also authored several books, which we’ll discuss below.
Other Businesses, Board Memberships, and Professional Roles
Murphy is an independent director on HSBC’s corporate board. He has also worked as a board director at DBS Bank, ICICI, NDTV, and Unilever over the years.
Given his reputation as a leader and expert, he has also served on advisory boards and taken in-council positions for various philanthropic institutions, companies, and educational organizations, including:
- The Ford Foundation
- The UN Foundation
- Cornell University
- INSEAD
- ESSEC
- Asian Institute of Management
- Indo-British Partnership
In addition to this, he was a trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, of the Rhodes Trust, and of the Infosys Prize. And that’s not all.
At one point, Murthy was the chairman of the governing board of the Public Health Foundation in India. To this day, he is a member of the British Telecommunications’ Asia Pacific advisory board and a member of the strategic board behind Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.
Last but not least, Narayana Murthy is a member of the International Advisory Board at IESE.
Being a very private person who lives a modest life with his wife, his earnings from each of these roles remain undisclosed to the public.
Books
Narayana Murthy has authored several books so far, including:
- A Better India: A Better World (2009), published by Penguin Books
- The Wit and Wisdom of Narayana Murthy (2016), published by Hay House
- A Clear Blue Sky: Stories and Poems on Conflict and Hope (2017), published by Puffin Books India
Other Assets
As previously mentioned, the Murthy family lives a rather modest and very private life.
This means that the details of how they spend their money are not disclosed to the public. His wife Sudha Murty shared at one point that, despite their substantial wealth, she and her husband haven’t taken a vacation for over 30 years.
Narayana Murthy reportedly still lives in the same Bengaluru flat that he did decades ago, drives a small, inexpensive car, and even cleans his own toilet.
The small family doesn’t add any glitz into their life, they own no private jets or expensive homes, nor do they wear luxury brands.
What Can We Learn from N.R. Narayana Murthy’s Story?
Narayana Murthy’s story is a testament to the value of hard work, perseverance, and vision. There are several key lessons that we can learn from his inspiring journey.
Murthy comes from a modest background. Using only his education and expertise, as well as some help from his wife, he would go on to found a business that made him a billionaire.
He had no idea that the $126 investment would turn into many billions of dollars because of his and his colleagues’ hard work.
However, his path hasn’t been without challenges. Murthy’s initial venture, Softronics, wasn’t a success. But he didn’t let his failure define him. Instead, he learned from his experience and moved on to greater achievements, teaching us a lesson about perseverance.
According to his wife, Murthy spent most of his life working non-stop, traveling around the world to close new deals, and doing everything possible to expand his business into the global leader in IT services it is today.
Murthy’s vision for the business was clear from the beginning – to create a business that delivers high-quality software services within budget and on time.
His leadership style has since been characterized by a focus on customer satisfaction, transparency, and ethical practices, all of which played a key role in the business’ growth and success.
Despite his staggering net worth and worldwide fame, Murthy remains grounded.
His modest lifestyle includes living in the same apartment for decades and avoiding luxury, sets an example of humility. He proves that you don’t need fancy cars, massive mansions, or private jets to be content.