Nothing should be given free: Narayana Murthy opposes freebies

Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy has opposed freebies and has called for an alternative approach. Narayana Murthy said, "nothing should be given free". He further suggested that people availing government services and subsidies should be made to contribute back to the betterment of society.

"When you provide those services, when you provide those subsidies, there must be something in return that they're willing to do. For example, if you say -- I will give you free electricity, then it would have been a very nice thing for the government to have said, but we want to see the percentage attendance in primary schools and middle schools go up by 20%, then only we will give you that," Narayana Murthy said

Narayana Murthy on Freebies

Talking at the 26th edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit 2023 on Wednesday, Murthy batted for compassionate capitalism and regarded it as the only solution for a poor country like India to become prosperous.

After expressing his idea, Narayana Murthy also made it clear that he is not against freebies while stressing on the importance of these subsidies for the poor and underprivileged.

"I am not against free services being provided. I fully understand, as I also came from a poor background once upon a time. But I think we should expect something in return from those people who received those free subsidies to take a slightly bigger responsibility towards making their future generation, their own children and grandchildren, better in terms of going to school, you know, performing better. That's what I mean," he added.

Narayana Murthy on Tax

He also expressed his views on India levying higher taxes on its citizens. Murthy said that in a developing country like India it is obvious to have higher taxation compared to developed countries.

"In order to create efficient, corruption-free and effective public goods in our country, the taxation will have to be obviously higher than what you see in developed countries. So, I personally would not at all grudge, if I have to pay a higher level of taxation," he said.

Explaining the higher taxation need on the basis of per capita GDP, Murthy pointed out that with $2,300 per capita GDP India has twice that of what is called "low income countries" by the United Nations and other bodies. However, he pointed out that India is still behind middle income country where the per capita GDP is somewhere between USD 6,000 to about 12,000 to 15,000.

He also went on to explain about his transformation from a leftist to a "determined compassionate capitalist". He said that compassionate capitalism is the only solution for a poor country like India to become prosperous and not socialism and communism.