INFOSYS FOUNDER WARNS OF COUNTRY'S GDP GROWTH TOUCHING 'LOWEST EVER'; SHOULD EMPLOYEES BE WORRIED?- REPORT! 

Amid the COVID-19 crisis and fear, Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy said the economy should be brought back on track and people should be prepared to live with the pathogen. He flagged fears that the country's GDP growth may even touch its lowest since 1947 in the backdrop of the pandemic.

While participating in a recent discussion on 'Leading India's Digital Revolution' during the 16th edition of Institute of Engineering and Technology's India Digital Conversations which was held virtually, the software icon also pitched for developing a new system in every sector of the country's economy to operate at full steam with suitable precautions.

"India's GDP is expected to shrink by at least five percent. There is a fear that we may even reach the lowest GDP (growth) since independence, since 1947. The global GDP has gone down. Global trade has shrunk, global travel has almost disappeared. The global GDP is likely to shrink between 5 percent and 10 percent," Murthy said.

Further sharing his views on the pandemic, Murthy said that right from day one of the national lockdown on March 24 due to the pandemic; his views stated that people had to live with the virus for three reasons:

- there is no vaccine

- no cure for coronavirus 

- the economy cannot be brought to a halt.

"But even if we are able to vaccinate 10 million people a day, it is going to take 140 days to vaccinate all the Indians. That is a long period to prevent the spread of the disease...we cannot make the economy come to a halt. Over all, 140 million workers have been affected by this virus. So the smartness is in defining a new normal. This normal should allow our economy to grow while moving on the earth and fighting the virus," Murthy added. 

Later pointing out on developing a new system to deal with the current situation, the tech leader also emphasised on creating a health infrastructure for vaccinating everybody once a vaccine was available. 

"India has traditionally not invested sufficiently in public health. We have severe shortage both in talent and in material for a robust public health system. The state of our Institute of Public Health is a good data point," said Murthy. 

Meanwhile, he lauded the country for combating the virus and doing a decent job under the present circumstances. He also advised on increasing the number of hospital beds and adding equipment for testing and taking care of the projected number of Covid-19 patients.