Sudha Murty: Biography of the Author and Philanthropist

Childhood in north Karnataka

Sudha Murty was born Sudha Kulkarni on 19 Aug 1950 in Shiggaon, in today's Haveri district of Karnataka. Her father, R. H. Kulkarni, was a surgeon and her mother, Vimala Kulkarni, a schoolteacher. She was brought up by her parents and her maternal grandparents, and those years became the material for many of her later stories.

Her best-known childhood story is about her grandmother, Krishtakka, who couldn't read and depended on others to read her the weekly instalments of a Kannada novel. When the young Sudha was away and her grandmother missed an episode, she asked to be taught to read. That became the title story of How I Taught My Grandmother to Read (2004).

Her siblings went on to strong careers of their own. Her brother Shrinivas Kulkarni is an astrophysicist at Caltech, her sister Sunanda Kulkarni is a doctor, and her sister Jaishree Deshpande co-founded the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT with her husband, Gururaj Deshpande.

Studying engineering

She studied electrical and electronics engineering at the B. V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology in Hubli, now KLE Technological University, at a time when very few women did. She then took a master's degree in computer science at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru.

The postcard to TELCO

While at IISc she saw a job advert from TELCO, the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company, that ended with the line that women need not apply. She wrote a postcard to the company's chairman, J. R. D. Tata, objecting to the bias. TELCO called her for a special interview and hired her.

She joined as a development engineer in Pune, becoming the first woman engineer at what was then India's largest automobile maker, and later worked in Mumbai and Jamshedpur. Years later the Tata Group would be led by Ratan Tata, whose biography covers the company she broke into. After TELCO she worked as a senior systems analyst with the Walchand Group in Pune.

Marriage and the start of Infosys

In Pune she met N. R. Narayana Murthy, then a software engineer, and they married in 1978. In 1981 he told her he wanted to start a software company. She had ₹10,250 in savings. She kept ₹250 and gave him the rest, ₹10,000, as seed money. In a 2024 interview she said she took a risk because his earlier venture, Softronics, had failed.

She didn't become one of the founders. Murthy has said he was "wrongly idealistic" in keeping family out of Infosys, and that she was more qualified than him and the other founders. She ran the household, handled the accounts in the early years and later taught computer science, including at Christ University in Bengaluru.

The Infosys Foundation

Infosys set up its charitable arm, the Infosys Foundation, on 6 Dec 1996, with ₹32 lakh. She was its chairperson from the first day. Over 25 years the foundation funded hospitals, schools, libraries, orphanages and disaster relief across India. It built thousands of public toilets and houses for flood victims. She also backed the drive to put computers and libraries in every government school in Karnataka.

She retired as chairperson on 31 Dec 2021. "When the Foundation started, I was the mother and the Foundation was my child. Today, as I leave, I am satisfied to see that the Foundation has become a mother and I the child," she said. She continues her charity work through the Murty family's trust. She's also been a member of the Gates Foundation's public health care initiatives.

Writing in Kannada and English

She started writing in Kannada and later wrote in English, and her books have been translated into all major Indian languages. Her simple, direct style made her one of India's best-selling authors, especially among young readers. Her Kannada novel Dollar Bahu, about a family divided by a son who emigrates to the US, was made into a Zee TV series in 2001.

The title story of Three Thousand Stitches is about her work with devadasi women in north Karnataka, which helped about 3,000 of them leave the system and support themselves. To thank her, each woman added a stitch to a quilt they gave her. She told The Times of India in 2018 that dealing with the devadasis was one of the hardest challenges of her work.

She has also acted, in the Marathi film Pitruroon, based on her story Runa, and in the Kannada film Prarthana.

Mythology for children

In her late sixties she began a long series of children's books retelling stories from Indian mythology, published by Puffin. They include The Serpent's Revenge (2016), The Man from the Egg (2017), The Upside Down King (2018), The Daughter from a Wishing Tree (2019) and The Sage with Two Horns (2021). Each book collects lesser-known tales from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the Puranas in short chapters for young readers. Her more recent titles include How to Be Happy with Who You Are (2025).

She also wrote columns for English and Kannada newspapers for years, and her early English books, including Wise and Otherwise, grew out of those columns about people she met through her foundation work.

Rajya Sabha

On 8 Mar 2024, International Women's Day, President Droupadi Murmu nominated her to the Rajya Sabha, Parliament's upper house, for her contribution to social work, philanthropy and education. Nominated members don't belong to a party.

Awards and honours

The Global Indian Award carries a prize of US$50,000. Narayana Murthy had won it in 2014, so they became the first couple to receive it. She gave the money to the Fields Institute at the University of Toronto. The Padma Bhushan in 2023 came 17 years after her Padma Shri, and both were for social work rather than for her writing, which has its own honours, including the Sahitya Akademi's children's literature prize the same year.

Family

Sudha and Narayana Murthy have two children. Their daughter, Akshata Murty, a fashion designer and investor, is married to Rishi Sunak, who was the UK's Prime Minister from October 2022 to July 2024. Their son, Rohan Murty, is a computer scientist who founded the software company Soroco. The family also funded the Murty Classical Library of India at Harvard University, which publishes classical Indian texts alongside English translations through Harvard University Press, with the original script on facing pages.

Net worth

We haven't found a credible published estimate of Sudha Murty's own net worth, so we don't give one. The Murthy family's wealth comes mainly from its shareholding in Infosys.

Legacy

Sudha Murty changed what an engineer, a philanthropist and a best-selling author could look like in India, and she did all three while staying rooted in Kannada and in Karnataka. Her postcard to TELCO and her ₹10,000 for Infosys are now part of Indian business history, alongside figures such as Dhirubhai Ambani and Mukesh Ambani.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Infosys Foundation: press release on her retirement as chairperson
2. The Economic Times (PTI): the ₹10,000 that started Infosys, Mar 2024
3. Moneycontrol: interview on 25 years at the Infosys Foundation, Dec 2021
4. Times of India: Sudha Murty to retire as Infosys Foundation chief
5. Rajya Sabha: members' profiles
6. Wikipedia: Sudha Murty (cross-checked dates and books)
7. Hindustan Times: Narayana Murthy regrets not letting Sudha Murty join Infosys
8. Times of India: Dealing with devadasis was a challenge, says Sudha Murty

Facts checked against the sources above by Tulasiram Pemmadi on 8 Nov 2026 (IST). Where reliable sources disagree, the article says so. Spotted an error? See our corrections page or email contact@nextplayintel.com.

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