Murthys look to do a Buffett

Infosys co-founder and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy and his wife Sudha Murty intend to give their monies to three sectors: basic healthcare, basic education and basic nutrition. Also in their philanthropic work they intend to follow the world’s richest man, Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett’s model. They will give financial help to people who are already doing good work in the fields they have identified rather than set up a foundation of their own to carry out their philanthropic work. Buffet has pledged his fortune to Microsoft founder Bill and his wife Melinda Gates’ foundation. Said Murty: “There are lots of fabulous initiatives in the field being executed by some wonderful people to address the issues that interest us. So, Sudha and I will give financial help to these people rather than do it directly.’’ Sudha Murty is also the chairperson of Infosys Foundation. Murthy wants to keep the work they intend to do in their personal capacity separate from the work of the company foundation. The foundation is funded by a percentage of the Infosys’ profits that accrue to it annually. The Murthy family’s combined worth as per the latest price of Infosys scrip, is Rs 4,000 crore. The couple is worth Rs 1,750 crore, twothirds of which belong to Sudha Murty. A larger chunk of Rs 2,250 crore belongs to their two children, Akshata and Rohan. While Rohan is a doctoral student at Harvard, Akshata, who has done her MBA from Stanford, is with a clean-tech firm in the US. Narayana Murthy’s share holding in Infosys is less than 1%. As he’s been quietly giving away chunks of it, his equity stake in the company is just 0.56%, and at today’s price is valued at Rs 445 crore. Sudha Murty’s 1.63% stake is worth Rs 1,300 crore. Murthy has always disclaimed beneficial ownership of shares held by his family.