84-Hour Work Week: A few months ago, Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy ignited a social media storm by suggesting that youngsters should be prepared to work for 70 hours a week if India is to compete effectively on the global stage. Now, Nilesh Shah, Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company, has intensified the work week debate by advocating for a 12-hour workday culture, similar to practices in China, Korea, and Japan.
Speaking on the podcast 'Invest Aaj For Kal with Anant Ladha', Shah argued that an 84-hour work week would "accelerate the country's growth" and help people transition to "middle and upper-income levels."
In a clip that has gone viral on social media, Shah said, "Charlie Munger wrote in one of his books that people in Korea worked 84 hours a week for one generation. That means 12 hours a day, every day, every month, every year."
Shah added, "Recently in India, Narayana Murthy mentioned working 70 hours a week, which created a controversy. He said that Indians need to work like Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese. If we work hard, there is no doubt that India's growth will continue, the pace will accelerate, and there will come a time when there will be no sub-Saharan Africa-level poverty in India. We will have transferred everyone to middle-income and upper-income levels."
Economist Sanjeev Sanyal supported Shah's suggestion, posting on X (formerly Twitter), "I agree. One generation will have to put in that effort... and unlike the examples mentioned, also remember to procreate. It is doable (with the occasional break). We are that generation and perhaps the next one."
Shah's comments have sparked a heated debate among social media users. One user remarked, "Absolutely correct... A generation has to work hard and long hours to uplift the country. You may ridicule Mr. Murthy, but you have to work that hard to remain competitive because someone is willing to work harder and offer a better value proposition in another country."
Another user countered, "Raising children properly while working 84 hours a week seems unreasonable. We seem to be doing a poor job with a 60-hour week itself."
A third user pointed out, "It's a misconception that increased work hours lead to more output. In fact, it's found to be counterproductive because after a while it starts giving diminishing returns as employees have less time for other pursuits. Indians already put in long working hours while wages remain low."
"No, we don't. We are in the 21st century, not building pyramids. Don't give examples of Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, or Antarctica. These countries have their own problems. Let's just work as per our capacity and try to innovate and evolve rather than going back to the stone age," another person commented.
A user added, "I've often worked 12 hours... in 365 days... 12 hours a day with no breaks every day would cause a horrible demise in my case... or very rapid insanity... what to do."
"Start paying your employees properly before talking about implementing this," another X user suggested. One person concluded, "This is privilege speaking!"