India's young people should work 70 hours a week: billionaire founder of IT giant says

Recently CNN.co.jp reported the following:

インドの若者、週７０時間働くべき　ＩＴ大手創業の富豪が発言

2023.10.28 Sat posted at 15:47 JST

ニューデリー（ＣＮＮ） インドのソフトウェア大手インフォシスの共同創業者、ナラヤナ・マーシー氏はこのほど、インドを世界的な経済大国に押し上げたいなら、若者たちは超長時間労働をする必要があるとの見方を示した。

マーシー氏は「固い決意を胸に、並外れた規律と勤勉さで」働く若者がインドには必要だと発言。若者は週７０時間働くべきだと指摘した。

「これはまさにドイツ人や日本人が第２次世界大戦後にやったことだ」とも述べた。インフォシスのモハンダス・パイ元最高財務責任者（ＣＦＯ）との会話の模様は２６日、ユーチューブ上で公開された。

マーシー氏が１９８１年に共同創業したインフォシスはその後、世界最大級のアウトソーシング企業に成長した。米経済誌フォーブスの試算では、同氏の資産は４０億ドル（約５９８０億円）を超える。

マーシー氏は英国のスナク首相の義父でもある。

「どういうわけかインドの若者は欧米の望ましくない習慣を受け入れてしまい、国に貢献しない傾向がある」とマーシー氏。「インドの労働生産性は世界最低水準にある」との見方を示し、新興市場、特に中国の成長を促進した政策から学ぶべきだと言い添えた。

国際通貨基金（ＩＭＦ）によると、インドは世界有数のスピードで経済成長を遂げており、今年の成長率は６．３％に上ると見込まれている。

ＳＮＳ上ではマーシー氏の発言に批判の声が上がった。近年の調査では、自分たちは世界最悪レベルの長時間労働と低賃金にあえいでいるとインド人が感じていることが明らかになっている。

Translation

New Delhi (CNN) Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Indian software giant Infosys, recently expressed the opinion that young people would need to work extended long hours if India wanted to become a global economic power.

Murthy said India needed young people who worked "with great determination, exceptional discipline and hard work." He pointed out that young people should work 70 hours a week.

He said, "This is exactly what the Germans and Japanese did after World War II." A conversation with Mohandas Pai the former chief financial officer of Infosys was published on YouTube on the 26th.

Infosys, which Murthy co-founded in 1981, had since grown to become one of the world's largest outsourcing companies. According to estimates by the US business magazine Forbes, his assets were over $4 billion (approximately 598 billion yen).

Mr. Murthy was also the father-in-law of British Prime Minister Sunak.

Murthy said, “For some reason, young people in India tend to adopt the undesirable habits of the West and do not contribute to the country". He also said, "India's labor productivity is among the lowest in the world," and added that India should learn from the policies that had spurred growth in emerging markets, especially China.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India was one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with growth expected to reach 6.3% this year.

Murthy's comments drew criticism on social media. Recent surveys had revealed that Indians felt that they were suffering from some of the worst long working hours and low wages in the world.

              So, an entrepreneur in India expressed the opinion that young people need to work extended long hours for the benefit of the country. I remember that, about a decade ago, a famous Chinese entrepreneur had said similar things regarding workers in China. To me, it should be the management’s responsibility to devise ways for workers to work more effectively and efficiently, rather than extending their working hours. To work extended long hours, among other negative effects, may lead to a diminishing return in productivity.