Infosys founder Narayana Murthy has again suggested that people should work longer hours and this time he pointed to China as an example. He mentioned the well-known “9-9-6” system used by some Chinese companies. The 9-9-6 rule means working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week. That adds up to 72 hours of work every week. The system became popular at many tech companies in China but it also received strong criticism for being too exhausting and harmful to employees’ health and personal lives. In 2021 China’s Supreme Court declared the 9-9-6 schedule illegal. However it is still unclear how strictly this decision is being followed in reality. What Narayana Murthy said about the 9-9-6 rule Even though the 9-9-6 work culture has faced a lot of criticism Narayana Murthy spoke about it in a positive way during an interview with Republic TV. Murthy had already stirred a big debate in 2023 when he said Indians should work 70 hours a week to help the country grow. This time he backed his argument by using China as an example. He said “There is a saying in China - 9 9 6. Do you know what it means? 9 am to 9 pm 6 days a week. That comes to 72 hours.” Murthy suggested that young Indians should also be ready to work that long. He added that people should focus on building their careers first and think about work-life balance later. How the internet reacted to Murthys 9-9-6 rule? Many people online strongly disagreed with Narayana Murthy’s comments saying that Indian workers are already putting in long hours while living with poor infrastructure pollution and low quality of life in major cities. One user on X (formerly Twitter) wrote “Sir we should follow good examples not bad ones. Why do you keep talking about burnout-level work hours but never mention fair pay for those hours?” Another user responded to Murthy’s quote by comparing it with Europe:“Murthy said ‘There’s a saying in China — 9 9 6.’ Well there’s also a saying in Europe — 10 5 5. It means working 10 am to 5 pm five days a week. People go for walks spend time with friends and actually enjoy life.” A third person criticised the idea even more harshly saying “Will you pay employees based on hours worked? No. You want them to work nonstop while you can give shares worth ₹250 crore to your nine-month-old grandson and they earn only ₹3.6 lakh a year.”