NR Narayana Murthy, Founder of Infosys and Catamaran Ventures, has faulted Indian IT companies for sending their staff to onshore assignments in large numbers.

“Indian companies behave like agents to help their employees cross the Atlantic,’’ Murthy said while responding to a question from the audience on the likely impact of a possible win of Donald Trump in the US presidential election on the US visa regime after participating in the dean speakers series at the Indian Scholl of Business (ISB) here on Tuesday.

While stating that global corporations hailing from India also have a global responsibility to provide jobs to the youngsters in different countries of their operations, he said a visa independent global delivery was put in place by him in Infosys.

“However, the programme was junked after I left in 2014,’’ he said.

Indian employees were uncomfortable in being bosses for foreigners, he said, adding that our professionals were unable to scale up to practising a global culture going beyond their own cultural affinities and habits that might make working for Indian companies unattractive for foreigners.

He also cited examples from Infosys experience in which foreign professionals hired in his tenure left the jobs due to cultural aspects.

“I think we will have to learn to become global managers and rise above own cultural habits,’’ Murthy said.

A ‘proactive’ role Referring to his role in Infosys, he said he will continue to play a ‘proactive’ role whenever requested by the company. “According to SEBI, I am culpable as a promoter if some thing goes wrong,’’ he said.

Murthy also had some good words for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for starting the Swachh Bharat programme. The country had many challenges in primary education, health and nutrition.

“We have to take up some initiatives in which success is important. I believe the Prime Minister had done some of it,’’ he said in his talk earlier.

Pleading for compassionate capitalism, he asked ISB students to be evangelists for capitalism by leading to simple life.

ISB Dean Rajendra Srivastava conferred the ISB Honorary Distinguished on Murthy on the occasion.

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