Sunday Reading

New Delhi, 22 April 2011

How Infosys Was Born

ALL ABOUT DREAMING BIG!

By Deepak Thimaya

It was in the early 1980s. The Commissioner of Bangalore Municipal Corporation had a guest in his office, a friend from Hubli, a senior doctor. The doctor had come to meet the Commissioner with a problem and with the hope that the Commissioner in his position of power and influence would do something about it.

The doctor was a respected and no-nonsense medical practitioner and had known the Commissioner from the officer’s earlier stint in Hubli as the official in-charge of the twin cities of Hubli and Dharwad.

The Commissioner was glad with the doctor’s visit and readily offered to help him in any way; even before listening to the problem. The old man had come with a strange predicament. His daughter was happily married and had two children. Her husband was employed in a company with not less than Rs 10,000 as monthly salary, which was a big amount in those days. But the man, the doctor’s son-in-law wanted to quit the job and start a company.

The father-in-law was terrified by the idea. The problem was that his daughter did not seem to object to her husband’s decision. The business scene was not excellent and the field was not for people who wanted secure lives. Both, his daughter and her husband, were well qualified and could look forward to a comfortable life together working for good companies. He did not know where, when and why the ghost of entrepreneurship had entered his son-in-law’s mind and he was in search of someone who could successfully ostracize it.

The doctor knew that the Commissioner was a man of influence and was also a person who had an immense network in the business space. He had seen the street smartness with which the officer had handled many issues and was sure that he was the right person to advise his son-in-law.

The Commissioner readily agreed because it was a small thing. He just had to tell the right things and with his overbearing influence would put sense into the person and expel the bad thought. The officer agreed with the senior citizen that it was of course not right for a person in a good job with a good background to try something as uncertain and impractical as starting a business in a new field. The Commissioner saw the good doctor off and asked him to come back soon with the son-in-law whom he was eager to meet.

It did not take many days before the doctor was back at the Commissioner’s office. He had come with a young man with an average build. The man appeared to be decent and well behaved. After the initial pleasantries the good officer asked the man about his work and other things.

On receiving the answers, the officer asked a few more questions. The man had a big dream but not the kind of money to match the dreams. In addition there were other friends who shared his dream and they too were ready to quit their promising positions. The Commissioner was totally aghast. Why on earth would someone quit a well paying job to start a company in a new field, just because he had a big dream! It sounded preposterous.

The officer offered tea and snacks and lightened the atmosphere as a prelude to the brain-washing session. He told the doctor’s son-in-law about the dangers that lurk in a new field and about how risky it was to leave a secure job in a good company. He advised him about how with a good job, the young man was more lucky than others and urged him to think about his family’s security and listen to his father-in-law, a man enjoying high credibility in society and profession.

He also told the doctor’s son-in-law how as an IAS officer he was earning only Rs 3,000 whereas he as a professional in the private sector was already earning Rs 10,000. He promised on the basis of his experience as to how much more as a professional he could earn in his job with promotions.

The son-in-law was determined and it did not look like he was going to heed any advice. He continued to say that he would start the company and the company would do well. Even the Commissioner was worried towards the end of the meeting because he had not made any headway in convincing the young man. The father-in-law too joined the convincing bid half way through with examples from the life of the Commissioner to put sense into his son-in-law’s head. Nothing worked.

The doctor and his son-in-law left just like they had come in: The old man grumbling and the young man sticking to his decision. There was now a new person in between, the Commissioner, sitting worried.

The father-in-law Dr. Kulkarni’s son-in-law went on to start the company with his friends. The field was new, the risks were huge and the number of non-believers and detractors aplenty. The company became a global success. The man came to be known as the face of the industry he was involved in, the software industry.

No one can doubt that the father-in-law was in the end indeed proud of his son-in-law, N. R. Narayana Murthy, the founder of Infosys. In the meantime the IAS officer, J. Alexander, went on to become the Chief Secretary (the top bureaucrat) of Karnataka State. He also happens to be the person who told this story to this writer. ----- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)