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Another Reality Check From Narayana Murthy: Indians Have The 'Highest Ego Per Achievement'

That hurts.
Murthy also said that Indian bureaucrats are of the opinion that they know it all.
Bobby Yip / Reuters
Murthy also said that Indian bureaucrats are of the opinion that they know it all.

Days after Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy said that India is "far, far away" from realising the ambition of developing smart cities, he said that Indians have a huge ego.

Last week, at the fourth annual Independence Day Lit Live lecture in Mumbai, Murthy said that the biggest challenge for Indians is their ego, reported Economic Times.

"The biggest challenge for all of us, not just politicians or bureaucrats, is that we, Indians, have the highest ego per unit of achievement," he said.

Murthy also said that Indian bureaucrats are of the opinion that they know it all.

He said that things don't move smoothly and fast in the country partly because of the "know-it-all attitude."

Last week, at the 'City Systems' lecture in Mumbai, Murthy said, "Since we are far, far away from smart cities, I did not talk about it."

Earlier in the lecture, organised by JSW Literature Live, Murthy also came down heavily on the lack of infrastructure in cities.

"Poor infrastructure can drive away investments and talent," he said, and pointed out how Mumbai has suffered due to this continued neglect.

"10 or 12 years ago, the desire was to position Mumbai as the Asian financial centre. We are nowhere near that dream for the very simple reason that investments are not coming in, talents are not simply available, productivity has gone down and growth has slowed down."

"We are still placing bandaids when there is a deeper cancer to be cured," he said.

"The government should not compare our cities with those in the developed world, but should look at the emerging market peers like Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia which are taking great efforts to make cities better," Murthy added.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.