Sudha Murty, a former engineer who has transitioned into philanthropy, was sworn in as a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament on Thursday, accompanied by her husband, N R Narayana Murthy. The oath-taking ceremony was conducted by Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar in the Parliament House chamber, with the presence of Piyush Goyal, the Leader of the House.
Additionally, Sudha Murty is celebrated for her significant contributions to both Kannada and English literature. She has been honored with prestigious awards such as the Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar, the Padma Shri in 2006, and the Padma Bhushan in 2023.
Murty, 73, the former chairperson of Infosys Foundation and the author of several books, mostly for children, was nominated to the Rajya Sabha on International Women’s Day last Friday.
Murty, who was the first woman engineer to have worked with TELCO, is famously known to have provided the seed capital of Rs 10,000 from her emergency funds to her husband to start Infosys, which now has a market cap of over USD 80 billion. Sudha Murty's daughter, Akshata, is married to Rishi Sunak, who serves as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the United Kingdom.