Meet the guy whose one error resulted in the establishment of a Rs 665000 crore firm. He was once wealthy than Mukesh Ambani

Among the most prosperous Indian businesspeople are Wipro founder Azmi Premji and Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy. You may be shocked to hear that Azim Premji once turned down Narayana Murthy’s application for a job. Subsequently, the founder of Wipro acknowledged that it was one of his worst errors.

Narayana Murthy said in an interview with CNBC-TV18: “I was once informed by Azim that not hiring me was one of his worst blunders. Premji and Wipro wouldn’t have had any competition if events had gone differently, as both Narayana Murthy and his spouse Sudha Murty acknowledged.

Born in 1946 in Karnataka, Narayana Murthy graduated from the National Institute of Engineering in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He also possesses a master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

At IIM Ahmedabad, Narayana Murthy began his career as a research associate. Softronics was founded by Narayana Murthy prior to Infosys, however it was unsuccessful. He then started working at Pune’s Patni Computer Systems.

With his wife Sudha Murty at his side, who gave him a seed capital of Rs 10,000, Narayana Murthy and his six companions launched Infosys in 1981.

From 1981 until 2002, Narayana Murthy led Infosys as its CEO for a total of 21 years. From 2002 until 2006, he served as the board’s chairman. He then assumed the role of chief mentor. 2011 saw his retirement from Infosys.

At Infosys, Narayana Murthy is now chairman emeritus.

Narayana Murthy started from nothing to amass his wealth. However, at the age of 21, Azim Premji acquired his father Muhammad Hashim Premji’s vegetable oil company, which he then developed to become a center for IT services software solutions and consulting services provider.

Premji graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He and Yasmeen Premji are wed. The two kids of the marriage are Tariq and Rishad.

In 2019, Azim Premji retired and handed it all on to his son Rishad Premji.

The market capitalization of Wipro is Rs 2.43 lakh crore, whereas that of Infosys is Rs 6.65 lakh crore as of January 12, 2024.