Co-Founder, Infosys
Infosys Founder N.R. Narayana Murthy Speaks About 'Building a Compassionate India'
At the launch of 'Seeds of Compassion', an impact study on #SMGC’s Compassionate Communities, Infosys Founder Mr. N. R. #NarayanaMurthy gave a powerful speech on 'Building a #Compassionate India'.
About N. Murthy
N. Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, participated in the launch of the book "The Inspired Leader" in July 2025, where he discussed the practice of self-introspection. He stated that he has conducted an annual review of his mistakes for 20 years, describing it as the "most single most powerful factor" for personal development, though he noted it took him three to four years to write honestly. In May and June 2026, Murthy spoke at the Bharat Innovates 2026 event in Nice, France, where he praised India's startup ecosystem, attributing its growth to Prime Minister Modi's Startup India initiative. He contrasted the challenges of entrepreneurship in the 1980s—such as lack of venture capital, poor communication, and travel restrictions—with the current environment, which he described as "even more difficult" due to the need to compete globally with world-class innovations. He advised young entrepreneurs to articulate their product's business value in a simple sentence and to lead by example in sacrifice, hard work, and values.
Transcript (14 segments)
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N. Murthy0:03
In our modern high-speed world, we are often taught that power is measured by dominance. We are told that being strong means being unyielding and that being successful means being competitive. Amidst the noise, compassion is often misunderstood. It is dismissed by the powerful as a passive emotion, a soft sentiment, and even by many as a sign of weakness.
But as you read through the pages of this report, and tomorrow you will read the pages of the book, Karuna: The Power of Compassion, you will find a radical correction of that narrative. This report teaches us that compassion is not an eye of pity. It is a spark of action. It is the most militant, transformative force available to humanity, as was demonstrated by Kailash Satyarthi.
There is a fundamental difference between sympathy, empathy, and Karuna, or compassion. Sympathy is staying on the shore, looking at the drowning person, and feeling sorry. Empathy is jumping into the water to feel what the victim is feeling. Karuna, or compassion as defined by Kailash Satyarthi, however, is the force that pulls the victim out of the water and then sets out to change the course of the river so that no one ever falls again.
Kailash has spent four decades changing the course of the river. All the outcome of the wonderful work that he has done is all there in the report, from the brick kilns of Rajasthan to the international hall of the United Nations. He has proven that one person's compassion can break the chains of millions of people.
When he speaks of compassion, he's not speaking from academic theory. He is speaking from the experience of a man who has carried rescued children on his shoulders. He is speaking from the scars of one who fought against the darkness of child labor so that others could see the light of education.
Let us look around us in 2026. We live in an era of unprecedented connectivity, yet we are plagued by profound isolation. We have more wealth than ever before in human history, yet millions of children still lose their childhood to the greed of supply chains. We have mastered the algorithms of technology, but we are losing the rhythm of the human heart.
Compassion, or Karuna, is the antidote to this modern maze. It is a reminder that our destinies are intertwined. As Kailash has often said, and I quote him, 'No child is a stranger, every child is our child.'
This report, in some sense, challenges the globalization of indifference. It asks us: Can we feel the pain of a child in a cobalt mine as if it were our own? Can we feel the hunger of a displaced family as a void in our own stomachs? If the answer is yes, then compassion has taken root.
One of the most moving aspects of this work and from the report is how it empowers innovation. We often feel paralyzed by the scale of global suffering. We think, 'What can I do?' Compassion, according to him, is a muscle. The more we use it, the stronger it becomes. Therefore, this report is a guide to exercising that muscle in our homes, in our offices, in our policies, in our communities, in our villages, in our cities, in our countries, and in the entire world.
It argues that compassion must be globalized. Just as we globalize trade and technology, we must globalize the sense of belonging to each other.
To the youth sitting here today, I would say that this report has to be your compass. In an age of AI and automation, the one thing that can never be replicated by a machine is the Karuna that flows from one soul to another.
To the leaders and policymakers—they may be in this room, they may not be in this room, but certainly some of the ambassadors and they are all here—let this book, or this report, I call it a book, not a report, be a reminder that a nation's greatness is not measured just by its GDP alone. It is measured by the dignity it affords the most vulnerable citizens. That is a developed nation. A developed nation is not measured by its GDP. It's not measured by how the rich feel, how the rich live, but it is measured by the dignity it affords its most vulnerable citizens.
He also believes, rightly so, that a compassionate economy is the only sustainable economy. We all talk so much about sustainability, but we have all forgotten about a compassionate economy, making sure that that poor child in Rajasthan is as comfortable as the rich child in Lucknow in terms of basic needs, in terms of basic necessities, in terms of basic education, in terms of basic health, in terms of basic nutrition, etc.
As we look at this report, let us not leave it on our bookshelves. Let it live in our hearts, in our hands, and in our actions. Let us remember the words of the ancient prayers that have resonated through this land for millennia: 'Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavantu.' May everybody be happy, but they can only be happy when we have the courage to be compassionate. May this report ignite a revolution of the heart in every leader.