Infosys founder NR Narayan Murthy on Friday said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is an extraordinary individual but somehow India’s growth stalled under him.
The UPA-Era
Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy on Friday bewailed the delays in decision-making during the final years of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, saying the economic activities in India were stalled despite Manmohan Singh, whom he called an extraordinary man, reported ANI.
Murthy made this remark during interaction with students at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad.
When comparing the current government with the previous Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, he said the country’s economy suffered due to delays in taking decisions.
According to him, the economic reforms of 1991, when Manmohan Singh was the finance minister, and the present Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government’s schemes like ‘Make In India’ and ‘Startup India’ have helped the country gain ground.
“But unfortunately, I don’t know what happened afterward. During Manmohan Singh’s government, who is an extraordinary individual, for whom I have tremendous respect, somehow India stalled. Decisions were not taken quickly, everything was delayed. And by the time I left (HSBC), if China’s name was mentioned 30 times, India’s name was hardly found to be mentioned once,” Murthy said as he credited former PM Manmohan Singh for 1991 economic reforms.
Modi-led NDA government
When questioned where he sees India in the future, he said, “When I was of your age, there was not much responsibility because not much was expected from neither me nor India. Now, it is the responsibility of the young generation to make people mention India’s name, whenever they mention any other country’s name, particularly China and exuded confidence that the young generation will be able to do that.”
The Infosys co-founder also praised the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre for bringing in ‘Make In India’ and ‘Startup India’, he said, “there was a time when most people from other countries looked down upon India, but today, there is a certain level of respect for the country, which has now become the world’s fifth largest economy.”
He also praised China for building an economy six times India’s economy in just 44 years. He added that can be done in India as well.
“China is unbelievable. It (the Chinese economy) is 6 times larger than India. During the period of 1978 to 2022, i.e 44 years, China has left India behind by six times. But I do think that if all the wonderful people sitting here this side to make things happen, India too will see similar respect as China today gets it,” he adds.
