Shark Tank India's Namita Thapar Rejects '70-Hour Work Week' Suggestion; Here's What She Said

Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy stirred a little storm on X when he said young people should work 70 hours a week to level up the country's productivity.

In a conversation with former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai in the inaugural episode of 3one4 Capital's podcast 'The Record,' Murthy said that youngsters should put extra hours at work to compete with leading economies.

Murthy's remarks were lambasted for apparently promoting an 'overwork culture' by some and praised by a few others for trying to stoke the young ones into action.

Now, Executive Director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals and Shark Tank India Judge Namita Thapar has joined the ongoing debate.

She responded to fellow Shark Tank India judge and founder of Shaadi.com Anupam Mittal who shared a photo with the judges of the business reality television show and wrote, "After all these years, still working 70-hour weeks."

Namita Thapar asked that how would people ever find time for family if they worked for 70 hours a week?

"Halloween shenanigans are always fun, kiddos & me made these goodies, @AnupamMittal if we listen to you & other experts about working 70 hour/ week (plus horrendous commute time) will we ever find time for family, creating precious memories & most importantly for mental health," she wrote in a post on X."

Responding to her views, Mittal replied, ''Not counting but am pretty sure you are up there in terms of weekly hours. Better to embrace and find work-life harmony than to continue to be torn between work-life balance.''

In another post, Namita Thapar said that the idea of working 70 hours a week will result in Pharma companies making "tons of money" due to poor physical and mental health.

Here's the post:

"India's work productivity is one of the lowest in the world. Unless we improve our work productivity...we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress," Murthy said, comparing India with China, Japan and Germany.

"So therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say, 'This is my country. I'd like to work 70 hours a week," he added.

"I wholeheartedly endorse Mr. Narayan Murthy's statement. It's not about burnout, it’s about dedication. We have to make India an economic superpower that we can all be proud of in India 2047. A 5-day week culture is not what a rapidly developing nation of our size needs," Sajjan Jindal, chairman, JSW Group, said.

(With PTI inputs)