How Kris Gopalakrishnan Divides Every ₹100 Between Wealth and Philanthropy

I come from a middle-class family. I studied in government schools and colleges there until my BSc [Bachelor of Science]. In 1975, I got into IIT [Indian Institute of Technology] Madras to pursue an MSc [Master of Science] in physics. During my time there, I was introduced to computers, got fascinated by them, and decided to switch to a Master’s in computer science. I graduated in 1979 and joined Patni Computers in Bombay, where all the future co-founders of Infosys met.

We started Infosys in 1981. The entrepreneurship bug bit me because I felt it was a risk worth taking early in my career. If it did not work out, I could always go back and work for someone else. Having six other co-founders also gave me confidence. It felt like a group of friends coming together to build something of our own.

In those days, entrepreneurship was not a big thing in India. There was no venture-capital ecosystem, so Infosys was bootstrapped with support from our families. We did not start with grand ambitions of building a global technology company. We simply felt that instead of working for somebody else, we would work for ourselves. That is how Infosys got started.

My father’s business was very small and remained small throughout his life. It simply helped us make a living. There was no sense that it was something big or highly influential. But it did give me confidence that one could start something on one’s own in the private sector, even if it was small.

We didn’t have much money growing up, but we managed. What my parents gave us was a good education.

All through my life, I studied in government schools and colleges, including IIT, because the fees were not much. In fact, when I finished my 12th, I applied for medicine only to one college, which is the Government Medical College in Trivandrum, because we couldn't afford to pay donations in private colleges. I didn’t get in, so I went to a government college for BSc and later, fortunately, got into IIT.

Money was never a big concern; we were neither poor nor rich. Even today, the concept of money is that I don't have to worry about money. I see having wealth as a responsibility. A responsibility to use that money wisely and to address certain problems facing society by contributing your time and money.

When Infosys started, those thoughts were not really on my mind. I never imagined the company would become so big. It was only around 1998–99, when we decided to list on [New York-based stock exchange] Nasdaq and the company was growing rapidly, that we started thinking in terms of market capitalisation and wealth.

It took a long time for Infosys to become a billion-dollar company in terms of revenue, and we always saw it as a professional company. In fact, our tagline was, “By professionals, of professionals and for professionals”.

I needed an institutional mechanism. The family office has two functions—to grow wealth and to give back. So, giving back is taken care of by Pratiksha Trust, which is the charitable part of the family office. Investments happen in Pratithi, where the focus is to grow wealth.

I stay less involved in the investment side so it can run independently of me in the future.

My philosophy is if ₹100 is generated in a year, ₹50 goes into growing the wealth and ₹50 goes into the philanthropic side, which is into research. This way, I have a sustainable mechanism to support research on a long-term basis in an institutionalised way.

The change I see, and a good one, is that while family offices always existed because India is full of family-run businesses, they traditionally invested only in their own businesses. The shift that has happened over the past 10–15 years is that wealthy individuals are now investing in other entrepreneurs beyond their own families.

This development creates many engines of growth rather than just one family being an engine of growth. I also believe that I am not the most intelligent person. The idea is to identify other intelligent people and support them.

First of all, it is starting to become institutionalised. It took some time to clearly define and articulate philosophy and vision. I think it is now beginning to take shape. However, I am still involved, so the real test will be what happens when I am no longer there.

Second, there are success stories. Some companies that we invested in have gone on to do IPOs [initial public offerings].

We have investments in some of the unicorns that have emerged as India crossed the milestone of having more than 100 unicorns.

These are all positive indicators. Of course, the family office made money, but more importantly, the country has created an engine for building large businesses. India's economic growth will be driven by large enterprises, and we are already seeing signs of that.

Research is vast, so I wanted to define it narrowly to give our philanthropy a clear direction.

One area is understanding how the brain works. Much of modern computing, including neural networks and artificial intelligence, was inspired by our understanding of the brain. Yet, the brain remains the most efficient computing system nature has created. We want to understand its functioning better and use those insights to develop more efficient models of computing.

The second area is ageing and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia. We want to understand why degeneration occurs, how it can be detected earlier and whether its progression can be slowed or delayed.

This is where longevity research comes in. The goal is not simply to extend the lifespan, but to extend the quality of life.