In a candid conversation with Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath on Wednesday (November 29) at the Bengaluru Tech Summit, Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy voiced his disapproval of freebies saying that “nothing should be given for free.” He also opined that compassionate capitalism can help a ‘poor’ country like India to become developed.
Speaking at the 26th edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit, Narayan Murthy said, “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 per cent, then only we will give you that.”
In a nutshell, Murthy asserted that nothing should be given for free, and citizens should contribute to building a better society. Although not absolutely opposed to freebies, Murthy opined that beneficiaries of free subsidies should be made to take up added responsibility for the future of their coming generations better in terms of education.
“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 own future generation, their own children and grandchildren, better in terms of going to school, you know, performing better. That’s what I mean, Murthy said.
When asked about if there is an appropriate level of taxation in India, Murthy said, “You know, we have to realise that India is a poor country. A per capita GDP of about USD 2,300 puts India about twice that of what is called ‘low-income countries’ by the United Nations and other bodies. We are still far away from being called a middle-income country where the per capita GDP is somewhere between USD 6,000 to about 12,000 to 15,000. In a country like India where there is a large mass of poor people, I think we the evangelists of capitalism have to pay a higher level of taxation because there are so many services in India that our government will have to provide to the poor people. You know the other day the Prime Minister said that his government will provide free ration to 800 million for the next five years. So what that means is that we have 800 million people who do not have the capacity to earn two meals a day,” Murthy said.
“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 continued.
In explaining his shift from a staunch leftist to a “determined compassionate capitalist,” he stated that compassionate capitalism, not socialism or communism, is the only way for an impoverished country like India to become affluent.
He believes that capitalism, founded on the twin pillars of the free market and entrepreneurship, is the best way for any country to overcome its poverty problem.
In response to a question on his advice to the government on increasing per capita GDP, Narayana Murthy stated that political leaders should carefully study China.
“So all that I would humbly request our political leaders is to study China very very carefully, and then see what are the good things that we can learn from China and implement here, so that India too advances at the same pace as China, and becomes a nation that has reduced the poverty of its people,” Murthy said.
