Trendsetter: Infosys' Murthy has no plans to retire now

N.R. Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies, will turn 60 on August 21 this year; that day, he will assume a new role-of Non-Executive Chairman of the company he founded 25 years ago. Murthy is stepping back, not to retire, but to indulge in a passion-following in the footsteps of his schoolmaster father-and teach Infoscians at the company's leadership institute in Mysore. He has groomed a team of successors well in advance, so his moving on is not expected to change the way the company operates. But, Murthy-an unsentimental man who is driven more by logic and numbers than by emotion-admitted to this correspondent recently that the decision wasn't at all easy. He is, after all, an icon in a nation starved of them. His-and indeed, all the Infosys co-founders'-appeal lies in the fact that a bunch of middle class, next-door-neighbour-type guys with nothing except education, enterprise and ethics going for them achieved so much in so little time. Infosys did not invent terms like corporate governance, transparency and playing by the book, but Murthy's personal example has ensured that the company has now become synonymous with these values. "When in doubt, disclose," is a famous Murthy-ism; "a clear conscience is the softest pillow" is another.

If all this has given you the impression that Murthy is heading towards semi-retirement, then perish the thought. On the day this correspondent met him for this report, there was a bevy of architects and suppliers waiting to meet him to discuss Infosys' plans to expand and build campuses across the country. Though he may be (symbolically) moving from his corner room to another ("to make a clean break and to start with a new slate," he says) his presence will continue to loom large. "I will always be there to help and guide the company whenever it needs me," he says.

-Venkatesha Babu

NUMBERS OF NOTE

$3,130 (Rs 1,47,110): The amount NRI steel tycoon L.N. Mittal earns every minute on his $23.5-billion (Rs 1,10,450 crore) fortune

2,025: The number of new employees that joined Infosys on June 26

$357.3 million (Rs 1,679.3 crore): The amount Microsoft has been fined by the European Commission for failing to comply with its 2004 anti-trust ruling

Over 10,000: The number of company secretary posts now lying vacant, according to the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), which says registration of students has fallen by about 15 per cent over the past two years

262: The number of times the pay of a US CEO exceeded that of a worker in 2005, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank. It means, US CEOs earned more in one workday than a worker earned in one year (260 working days)

$132 million (Rs 620.4 crore): The record pickings of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in the first three days after its release

4.80 million: The number of new telecom users added in June (4.78 million new mobile connections and 0.2 million new fixed lines), taking India's telecom subscriber base to 153.37 million

$2.6 trillion (Rs 1,19,60,000 crore): Total amount of money likely to be spent by airlines worldwide on buying new commercial jets over the next 20 years, according to Boeing

40 million tonnes: The amount of steel India produces a year. By 2010, demand is likely to be 65 MT. Mittal Steel alone produces 75 million tonnes, and the Arcelor-Mittal combine has a capacity of 121.7 million tonnes

2.4 metres by 1.4 metres: The size of Matsushita Electric's proposed plasma TV, the world's largest, which it plans to launch early next year

13: Number of football World Cup finals (out of a total of 18 so far) decided after 90 minutes. Three finals were decided after extra time and two after penalty shootouts

NOTED

ORDERED: Environment friendly CNG buses, by airlines operating from Delhi. They have placed orders with Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, and others to complete the switchover.

APPROVED: The setting up of the Sixth Pay commission, by the Cabinet. Its award, which will affect 55 lakh central government employees, will cost the exchequer an additional Rs 20,000 crore annually in pay and allowances. The three-member commission will give its report in 18 months.

LISTED: The Indian middle class, by Fortune, as being among the world's Top 50 Who Matter list, ahead of US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (20th) and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates (21st). "The emerging global middle class of China, India, Russia, Brazil and elsewhere" has been ranked seventh.

PULLED UP: By the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, public sector insurance companies for trying to deny health insurance benefits to elderly people. Earlier, Oriential Insurance Company tweaked procedures making it difficult for people above 50 from buying or renewing mediclaim policies.

RECORDED: By Delhi, a per capita income of Rs 53,976, double the national average, according to Delhi government's estimates of state domestic product (SDP) 2004-05. Delhi's per capita income figure is the highest among all states in India. The national per capita income at current prices is Rs 23,241.

FILED: By Nimmi Singh, mother of Ranbaxy honchos Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, a criminal complaint against Max chairman Analjit Singh and others, for allegedly intimidating and assaulting her and her daughter-in-law. Analjit has also filed a defamation case against Nimmi for allegedly maligning him.

TRANSFERRED: P.K. Kedia, Director, Investigations, Income Tax Department. He was probing the payment of Rs 300 crore as bribes by the liquor lobby to several leading politicians and bureaucrats. All other members of the investigation team have also been transferred out.

NEW PETROL-LPG WAGON R LAUNCHED

Maruti has launched a new-look Wagon R, called Wagon R Duo that runs on both petrol and LPG. You can switch from one fuel to the other with the flick of a switch. The car has a 22 litre gas kit, which is being procured from Poland and the US, and a conventional 35 litre petrol tank. The obvious draw: "the running costs of an LPG car are 33 per cent lower than one which runs on petrol," says MUL MD Jagdish Khattar. The Duo costs between Rs 3.4 lakh and Rs 3.6 lakh. Three regular petrol-only versions are also available and cost Rs 3.23 lakh to Rs 3.72 lakh.

-Amit Mukherjee

AIDS CAN SLOW DOWN GROWTH

Finally, there are numbers on the economic impact of HIV/AIDS on the Indian economy as well as the affected households. A recent set of studies, by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), map out some of the crucial impact of the epidemic. India's economic growth could decline by 0.86 per cent over the next 10-15 years if the growth of the epidemic remains unchecked. In absolute terms, that will result in Rs 11,09,793 crore being shaved off the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015-16 (at 2002-03 prices), according to model projections. The rationale: increased health spending by both households and the government leads to a fall in savings, which crowds out investment and results in a slowdown in growth. Government savings as a percentage of GDP could fall 67 basis points and household savings by 115 basis points.

At the household level, the total income could fall by 9.24 per cent due to lost earnings from illness and death. The worst affected, as usual, are the women and female children as there is often gender discrimination in treatment and care. Children from the affected families are more likely to have lower enrolment and higher drop-out rates, the study notes. And since education is the first line of defence against the disease, doors for prevention already start closing on them from childhood itself.

-Shalini S. Dagar