Before L&T Chairman SN Subrahmanyan, These CEOs Have Batted for 80 Hour-Plus Workweek

New Delhi: SN Subrahmanyan, the Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman has stirred a controversy with his remark on a 90-hour workweek with a working Sunday; the businessman's remark has drawn a lot of criticism from netizens and prominent figures including Deepika Padukone , Harsh Goenka and Jwala Gutta. SN Subrahmanyan is not the first businessman to promote such long working hours; take a look at the list of CEOs who have batted for an 80 hour-plus work week before the L&T Chief…

CEOs Who Have Batted for 80 Hour-Plus Workweek Before L&T Chairman SN Subrahmanyan

1. Shaadi.com CEO Anupam Mittal

After Narayana Murthy 's remark on the workweek, Anupam Mittal, the Shaadi.com CEO and a Shark Tank India judge also spoke about not counting the number of hours while working, hinting towards longer workweeks. In a podcast, Anupam Mittal said, “I think it is a big lie that's being told to this generation, and I think it stinks because you are not ever going to... okay this is for people who want to achieve something extraordinary in life... you are not going to achieve anything extraordinary in life by counting the hours that you are putting in.”

2. Infosys CEO Narayana Murthy

The Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has often been in the headlines for his statements on the working hours of the youth. In a statement, calling for a 14-hour workday and a 70-hour workweek, Narayana Murthy said, “If we want to compete with the fastest growing countries like China and Japan, we need to boost up our work productivity. At the moment, India’s work productivity is very low. The government also must reduce the time it takes for decision-making and curb corruption in bureaucracy. Our youngsters need to work for at least 70 hours a week.”

3. AI Startup Greptile CEO Daksh Gupta

23-year-old Daksh Gupta, the Indian-origin CEO of San Francisco-based AI startup Greptile had also spoken about putting in exceptional number of workhours daily. He had said, “When two smart groups tackle the same problem, the one that works harder and gets luckier wins. While luck is uncontrollable, effort isn’t.” Describing the work environment at his startup, Daksh Gupta had remarked, “Workdays start at 9 am and end at 11 pm, sometimes later. We also work Saturdays, occasionally Sundays. The environment is high-stress, with zero tolerance for mediocrity.”

4. Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha

Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha also made a remark that was aligned to Daksh Gupta's statement on workhours and work-life balance. Aadit Palicha had said, “I have nothing against work-life balance. In fact, I recommend it to all our competitors.” He had followed this post with another one that read, “FYI, not my quote – read it from an interview with Daksh Gupta.”

5. Kotak Bank CEO Nilesh Shah

Some time after Narayana Murthy's statement on a 70-hour workweek, Nilesh Shah, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company MD and CEO had said at an event, “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.” Agreeing to Narayana Murthy further 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.”

6. Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal

OLA CEO Bhavish Aggarwal also voiced his support to Narayana Murthy's 70-hour workweek statement. He said, “I should do more, and I'm fully in sync with his (Murthy's) direction to the youth. In the modern age, Saturdays and Sundays hold no value for me. If I look a few decades ahead, I don't think work is about 5 days of work and 2 days off. But it is hard to put a system around that, and OLA doesn't have a solution… I genuinely believe that our generation has to work extra hard to build the country of our dreams.”

7. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk

The world's richest person and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk also batted for longer work hours. He had said, “There are way easier places to work, but nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week.” Years ago, in an advice to entrepreneurs, Elon Musk had said, "Entrepreneurs must be extremely tenacious and then just work like hell. You just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. If other people are putting in 40 hour workweeks and you’re putting in 100 hour workweeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing … you will achieve in four months what it takes them a year to achieve.”

What Did SN Subrahmanyan Say That Sparked a Controversy?

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan, in a recent video circulating on Reddit, suggested that employees should work 90 hours a week and even on Sundays to boost productivity and stay competitive. The remarks have sparked widespread criticism on social media. In the video, Subrahmanyan said, “I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays, to be honest. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be happier because I work on Sundays too.” He dismissed the idea of work-life balance with a controversial comment, saying, “How long can you stare at your wife? How long can wives stare at their husbands? Get to the office and start working!”

To justify his stance, Subrahmanyan shared an anecdote about a conversation with a Chinese individual who credited China’s strong work ethic for its global competitiveness. “Chinese people work 90 hours a week, while Americans work only 50 hours a week,” he said, urging L&T employees to adopt a similar approach to stay ahead. This controversial remark by the L&T Chairman has received severe criticism from several people on the internet including prominent figures like Deepika Padukone, Harsh Goenka, Namita Thapar and Jwala Gutta.

In a statement to a leading media house, Larsen & Toubro has said, “At L&T, nation-building is at the core of our mandate. For over eight decades, we have been shaping India's infrastructure, industries, and technological capabilities. We believe this is India’s decade, a time demanding collective dedication and effort to drive progress and realise our shared vision of becoming a developed nation.” Further clarifying, the company has said that the comment made by SN Subrahmanyan were an attempt to lay emphasis on the fact that ‘extraordinary outcomes require extraordinary effort’ and also reinstated the company's commitment to fostering a culture which is driven by ‘passion, purpose and performance’.