'I raised 65%, Nandan Nilekani raised 35%': Infosys founder Narayana Murthy recollects raising a mandatory Rs 1.2 cr ahead of IPO

Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy spoke about corporate governance issues at start-ups, how artificial intelligence can be used by India at Business Today Tech Today Congress in Bengaluru.

He was talking to Business Today magazine editor Sourav Majumdar at a session titled "India's Techade: The Skills. The People. Vision For the Next Day".

He also spoke about the trials and tribulations he faced when he wanted to take Infosys public in the early 80s. 

"When we were raising money for our IPO, we had to invest our own kitty of Rs 1.2 crore because in those days the total equity required was Rs 3 crore. 40% of it had to come from us. I raised 65%, (Infosys co-founder) Nandan Nilekani raised 35%," Murthy said.

"I went to relatives who were well to do and they asked hundreds of questions but they didn't put any money. The only people who put money were my sisters, brothers, cousins who had very little savings and had tremendous confidence in me. They did it because they observed me from my childhood and they had seen I was very careful with money," said Murthy.

He was talking vis-à-vis about start-ups that are facing corporate governance issues and stakeholders are losing their money.

He said start-up founders shouldn't be treated harshly as long as they learn from their mistakes, quickly change their path and, if possible, tell all their stakeholders that they'll repay them eventually.