Sudha Murthy

Sudha Murty (née Kulkarni) was born on 19 August 1950 in Shiggaon, Haveri district, in what was then the Mysore State, now Karnataka, India. She is the daughter of R. H. Kulkarni, a surgeon, and Vimala Kulkarni, a schoolteacher. During her childhood, she was raised by her parents and maternal grandparents, experiences that later influenced her literary work.

Murty earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from B.V.B. College of Engineering & Technology, which is now known as KLE Technological University. She further pursued a Master of Engineering in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Science.

Professionally, Sudha Murty was the first female engineer employed at Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO), India's largest automobile manufacturer. She joined TELCO as a Development Engineer in Pune, working subsequently in Mumbai and Jamshedpur. Her employment at TELCO began after she send a postcard to the company's Chairman, highlighting gender bias issues, which led to her being granted a special interview and immediate hiring. Later, she worked as a Senior Systems Analyst for Walchand Group of Industries in Pune. She also taught at Christ University.

Murty began her career in computer science and engineering before transitioning into philanthropy and writing. In 1996, she founded the Infosys Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to social causes, and continued her role until her retirement in 2020. She is involved in various initiatives, including founding orphanages, rural development projects, and supporting the enhancement of education in Karnataka by providing computer and library facilities in government schools. She is also a member of the public health initiatives of the Gates Foundation and the founder of the Murty Classical Library of India at Harvard University.

As an author, Murty has written numerous books spanning novels, non-fiction, travelogues, technical books, and memoirs. Her works have been translated into all major Indian languages. Notable among her literary works are "Dollar Bahu," a novel originally written in Kannada and later translated into English, which was adapted into a televised series by Zee TV in 2001, and "Runa," which was adapted into the Marathi film "Pitruroon." She has also appeared as an actor in films, including "Prarthana," a Kannada movie.

In addition to her writing and social work, Murty has served as a columnist for English and Kannada newspapers.

Murty's contributions have been recognized with numerous awards. She received the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award, in 2006 for her social work. In 2010, she received the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award from the Karnataka Government. In 2011, she was conferred an honorary LL.D. degree for her contributions to legal education. She has also received the Basava Shree Award, Crossword Book Award in the Popular Non-Fiction category, an Honorary Degree from IIT Kanpur, and the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honor, in 2023. Other accolades include the Raja-Lakshmi Award, R.K. Narayana's Award for Literature, and the Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar.

In 2024, Sudha Murty was nominated as a Member of Parliament to the Rajya Sabha on 8 March, in recognition of her contributions to social work and education.

She is married to N. R. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys Technologies. They married when she was employed at TELCO in Pune. The couple has two children: Akshata Murty, a fashion designer married to former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Rohan Murty, a computer scientist and founder of the enterprise software firm Soroco. Her siblings include Dr. Sunanda Kulkarni,an astrophysicist Shrinivas Kulkarni, and Jaishree Deshpande, who co-founded the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT.