New Delhi: He is perhaps one of the most emphatic voices of India’s booming IT sector.
So when the Founding Chairman of Infosys N R Narayana Murthy comes out strongly and unequivocally about his commitment to capitalism, it certainly raises a few eyebrows.
In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN’s Karan Thapar on Devil’s Advocate, Murthy categorically stated that if India needed to solve its problems of poverty, it better embrace capitalism.
"I believe that is the only hope we have. I agree with that. The responsibility of the government is to ensure that people are happy and prosperous. And if people want to be prosperous you have to have economic growth. And if you want economic growth you have to encourage entrepreneurship,” he said. Murthy also advocated a series of sweeping radical reforms including hire and fire labour laws, privatisation of India's public sector including the Navratnas, permission for foreign direct investment in the retail sector and leaving infrastructure, urban education and urban health care to the private sector."
However, Murthy also clarified his idea of capitalism. "Capitalism is about providing equal opportunity for everybody and to make sure that people have incentives to perform better and better. Capitalism also thrives in an environment of competition. So it is very important for us to create an environment where there is intense competition among people and where there is opportunity for everybody to succeed. Let's remember that all countries which embraced Communism have failed. Even in Cuba the only person that Fidel Castro could trust was his brother. There was nobody else in the whole country that he could trust to handover the government when he was not well. That clearly says that Communism as a system has failed miserably," he said.
Murthy - now the Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys – also did not make any bones criticising the political leadership. “There is a serious crisis in the moral dimension of most of our leaders. I think, barring a few exceptions, we do not have good quality leadership in the country. That is a fact," he said.
However, Murthy made a specific exception of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, although he added that the "very fragile coalition" Singh leads was holding him back. "I personally think we have one such in Dr Manmohan Singh (but) unfortunately he leads a very fragile coalition. If he were to lead a majority Congress Party government I have no doubt at all he would move much faster than he has been able to. I'm 100 per cent certain."
Asked whether he thought the UPA government was doing enough to encourage entrepreneurship, create jobs and thus tackle poverty, Murthy was at best lukewarm with his praise.
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"The intentions are all very good. We have been making some incremental moves. But we have to take some big bold moves."
Murthy also advocated the need for privatisation of India's vast public sector, including the Navratnas. " I don't believe the government should be in business. And I think the Navratnas would perform better if they are in private sector hands or if they operate as if they are in the private sector,” he said.
Murthy also justified foreign direct investment. "When we have opened it (the retail sector) to large Indian groups, which means that the mom and pop stores are likely to suffer anyway, so why not open it to large multinationals? Let them bring the best technology, let them bring the best practices so at the end of the day the consumer benefits,” adding, "Even in education and healthcare, I do believe that in urban areas the government should leave it to the private sector and government should provide subsidies by way of vouchers, which the late Milton Friedman talked about, so that the poor people get the best of education, so that there is competition in the private sector to provide all these facilities in the most efficient manner."
Watch the full interview with Narayana Murthy on Devil’s Advocate, Sunday January 7, at 2030 hrs (IST). The full transcript will be available on www.ibnlive.com.
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