'My view has always been I don't care about the top line': As Infosys struggles today, Business Today's Chaitanya Kalbag sought and landed a rare interview with Murthy. The 66-year-old spoke extensively on Infosys, its past and future, and showed he is still very clued in

Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy, 66, has done it all - bootstrapping an enterprise with what is loose change today, going on sales calls riding pillion on a Vespa scooter, walking away from a GE deal because would leave little profit on the table, setting up India's first mega software campus, leading Infosys to make India's first Nasdaq listing, setting the best corporate governance standards in India, and leaving the enterprise with $6 billion in annual revenues when he retired. In a rare interview, Murthy speaks to Business Today's Chaitanya Kalbag about Infosys's current troubles, its past and future, the functioning of the government and the prospects of his own venture fund, Catamaran. Edited excerpts: A: Absolutely. This has become such a part of our DNA that our sales people don't want to reduce their rates. If you reduce, margins will go down. When I used to sit there, nobody dared come to my room and say I want to sell at a lower rate. I think even today, Shibulal has taken that view. [Kris] took that view. [Nandan Nilekani] took that view. Therefore, selling in a difficult market is more difficult. My view has always been I don't care about the top line, I care about the bottom line. Infosys is one company that does not take decisions based on ticker-tape. In 2001, we had grown by 100 per cent in the year prior to that. On April 10 or 11, 2001, we made an analysis and I was comfortable with only 30 per cent. Everybody said what will happen? The stock price will go down. I said I don't run this company based on stock price. I run this company based on how well we satisfy our customers, how happy our employees are, how transparent we are with our investors. I stood up and said 30 per cent. I think the stock price went from Rs 5,000 to Rs 1,500-1,600. I didn't bother. It came back! That's the advice I gave Shibulal - don't take decisions based on ticker-tape. Take decisions based on customers, employees, investors. Be transparent with investors but don't take decisions based on stock price. I would say that the focus on margins has always been an integral part of Infosys's thinking.