Kotak AMC's Nilesh Shah Advocates 12-Hour Workdays, 365 Days A Year; Netizens React

Close on the heels of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy suggesting a 70-hour work week, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company's managing director, Nilesh Shah, proposed an 84-hour work week for India. Shah said, for India to accelerate growth one generation needs to work 12 hours a day for 365 days.

The suggestion has sparked heated debate on social media platforms and raised questions about work-life balance and productivity.

Shah made the proposal during a podcast 'Invest Aaj For Kal with Anant Ladha'. He argued that India’s work ethic needs a radical shift to accelerate the country's growth. In the podcast, Shah said the 84-hour work week would "accelerate the country's growth" and help people to transfer to "middle and upper-income levels".

In a clip from the podcast that is now viral on social media, Shah can be heard saying, "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."

When Narayana Murthy had earlier advocated for a 70-hour work week in India, his stance sparked discussions about work ethics and productivity, echoing the current controversy surrounding Shah's proposal. While some view these suggestions as necessary for economic growth, others emphasise the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

The proposal by Shah has received mixed responses. Some users on social media platforms argue that an 84-hour work week is unsustainable and detrimental to employees' health and well-being while some suggested that people need to work not only hard but smart.

One user on X wrote "Completely Disagree. The world is different from what it was 2 generations ago when manual labour and hours clocked were the only ways to increase output. That’s not the case now. Process innovation, digitalisation, and automation working in synergy with humans drastically improve output. People who still talk about putting in 12 hours are just justifying poor spending on R&D and a habit of risk aversion. Many countries rely heavily on automation nowadays because they know that milking hours won't yield extraordinary results. Countries like South Korea and Japan have invested significantly in robotics and automation over the last two generations for this very reason."

Economist Sanjeev Sanyal reposted the viral post and said, "I agree. One generation will have to put in that effort ….. and unlike the examples mentioned, also remember to procreate. It is doable (with the occasional break). We are that generation and perhaps the next one."

Here are some of the other reactions: