Table of Contents
- The Long Game Over the Listing Day Pop
- Profit Is Not a Dirty Word
The Long Game Over the Listing Day Pop
After a year of buoyant public listings and swelling retail participation, two of Indian business’s most seasoned figures have delivered a pointed reminder: an initial public offering is not an arrival it is an accountability test.
In a recent interview, Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys, and Aditya Puri, the longtime chief executive of HDFC Bank, urged entrepreneurs to resist the temptations that often accompany market euphoria.
The opportunity before India’s new-age companies, Mr. Puri observed, is expanding particularly with the rapid integration of artificial intelligence across industries. But opportunity, he suggested, does not excuse indiscipline. Founders, he said, must be unambiguous about their purpose, deliberate about culture and precise about product-market fit. The fundamentals, in his view, have not changed simply because capital is abundant.
“Set it up for the long run,” he said, framing entrepreneurship less as a sprint to valuation milestones and more as a marathon of operational consistency.
Mr. Murthy sharpened that philosophy with a phrase that has defined much of his own corporate ethos: deferred gratification. Entrepreneurs, he argued, must be prepared to sacrifice short-term comfort and sometimes personal enrichment in order to build durable institutions.
“That is, in the short term, we will make huge sacrifices. We will control our costs. We’ll make the company profitable,” he said, suggesting that sustained investor confidence is rooted not in narrative, but in restraint. Without that discipline, he warned, trust inevitably erodes.
The message lands at a moment when public markets have shown renewed appetite for technology and consumer startups, many of which are navigating the delicate transition from founder-led experimentation to shareholder scrutiny.
Profit Is Not a Dirty Word
If there was a common thread in the discussion, it was impatience with financial embellishment.
Mr. Puri dismissed the growing tendency among startups to spotlight adjusted metrics in lieu of net profit. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and its many customized variants may offer insight into operating trends. But they are not substitutes for profitability.
“You either have profit,” he said bluntly. “If you have unit profit, you know how many units you need to sell to be profitable.”
The emphasis on unit economics, rather than top-line growth alone, signals a shift from the “growth at any cost” playbook that defined much of the past decade. Revenue expansion without a credible path to earnings, both men suggested, is no longer sufficient to inspire confidence in public markets.
Mr. Murthy’s appeal to deferred gratification extends beyond cost control. It also touches executive compensation and founder liquidity. In an era when secondary share sales allow entrepreneurs to monetize holdings even before a company matures, restraint becomes not merely symbolic but structural.
Mr. Puri clarified that fairness does not imply uniformity. Market compensation, he said, should reflect qualifications and competitive demand. But founders must avoid extracting disproportionate benefits while other stakeholders — employees, minority shareholders and early backers shoulder the operational risks.
“You can’t take all the benefits,” he noted. “You are not creating all of it.”
At its core, the admonition from the two executives is less about austerity and more about alignment. Companies that aspire to endure must balance ambition with accountability, growth with governance, and innovation with integrity.
An IPO may unlock capital and confer prestige. But in the view of Mr. Murthy and Mr. Puri, it also imposes a higher standard one measured not by valuation headlines, but by sustainable profit, shared prosperity and the patience to build something that lasts.
EDITED BY – SARTHAK MOOLCHANDANI
{ STUDENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES AND INTERN AT HOSTELBEE}