Sudha Murty (born 19 August 1950) is an Indian author, philanthropist and engineer. She was the first woman engineer hired by the Tata truck maker TELCO, lent her husband, N. R. Narayana Murthy, the money to start Infosys, and chaired the Infosys Foundation for 25 years. She has written dozens of popular books in Kannada and English, many of them for children. She received the Padma Bhushan in 2023 and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2024.
Quick Facts
| Birth name | Sudha Kulkarni |
| Born | 19 August 1950, Shiggaon, Haveri district, Karnataka, India |
| Age | 76 |
| Occupation | Author, philanthropist, engineer, teacher |
| Education | B.V.B. College of Engineering, Hubballi (B.E.); Indian Institute of Science (M.E. Computer Science) |
| Spouse | N. R. Narayana Murthy (m. 1978) |
| Children | 2 (Akshata and Rohan) |
| Honours | Padma Shri (2006), Padma Bhushan (2023) |
Early Life
Sudha was born in Shiggaon in north Karnataka; her father, Dr S. R. Kulkarni, was a surgeon. She was the only woman in her engineering class at B.V.B. College in Hubli, where she came first in the university, and she took a master’s degree in computer science at the Indian Institute of Science with a gold medal.
Career
In 1974 she saw a job notice from TELCO (now Tata Motors) that said women need not apply. She wrote a postcard of protest to the chairman, J. R. D. Tata, was called for an interview and became the company’s first woman engineer on the shop floor, working in Pune, Mumbai and Jamshedpur.
She married Narayana Murthy in 1978. In 1981 she gave him ₹10,000 from her savings to start Infosys with six colleagues, and supported the family on her salary in the early years. She did not join the company, as her husband felt only one of them should.
She was chairperson of the Infosys Foundation from its founding in 1996 until 2021. Under her it built thousands of houses for flood victims, school libraries, public toilets and hospital wards, and supported sex workers and the Devadasi community in Karnataka in leaving the trade.
Murty has written more than forty books, including novels, travel writing, technical books and collections of true stories from her work. Her children’s books, such as How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and Grandma’s Bag of Stories, are widely read in Indian schools. She also taught computer science in Bengaluru for many years.
The President nominated her to the Rajya Sabha on 8 March 2024, International Women’s Day.
Personal Life
Her daughter, Akshata Murty, is married to Rishi Sunak, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2022 to 2024. Her son, Rohan Murty, founded the Murty Classical Library of India. She is known for her plain way of living and has said she has not bought a new sari for decades.
Selected Books
Awards and Honours
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Sudha Murty born?
Sudha Murty was born on 19 August 1950 in Shiggaon, Haveri district, Karnataka, India and is 76 years old.
What is Sudha Murty’s occupation?
Occupation: Author, philanthropist, engineer, teacher.
What honours has Sudha Murty received?
Padma Shri (2006), Padma Bhushan (2023).
Featured image: Sudha Murty receives the Padma Bhushan from President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, 5 April 2023. Photo by President’s Secretariat, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
