In a conversation with former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai, Narayana Murthy said that India's work productivity is among the lowest in the world. To compete with countries like China, India's youngsters must put in extra work hours -- like Japan and Germany did after World War 2.

He also blamed other issues like corruption in the government and bureaucratic delays, saying: "India's work productivity is one of the lowest in the world. Unless we improve our work productivity, unless we reduce corruption in the government at some level, because we have been reading I don't know the truth of it, unless we reduce the delays in our bureaucracy in taking this decision, we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress."

Murthy, 77, said: "So, I request that our youngsters say, 'This is my country. I want to work 70 hours a week.'

Given that they will just be making Indian business people rich with no discernible value for the overworked youth, we suspect they will just tell him to go forth and multiply.