The debate over working hours in India has reignited, sparked not merely by calls for a better work-life balance, but by a disturbing new global trend: the 70-hour work week. This “hustle culture,” often associated with China’s challenging “996 culture” (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 6 days a week), is now being championed in the West, with figures like former Google CEO Eric Schmidt suggesting that American tech companies, too, must adopt a 70-hour week to compete in the race for Artificial Intelligence dominance. The echoes of this culture, which treats extreme exhaustion as a “badge of honor,” are now intensifying in India, particularly after suggestions from eminent industrialists like Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy.
Ambition vs. Modern Slavery: A Legislative Collision
The central question emerges: Is backtracking on established labor rights—effectively replacing ambition with modern servitude—necessary for India’s push toward global technological supremacy? In a world of machines, must the human become the machine to compete?
When we juxtapose global competition against international labor law, the call for a 70-hour work week by figures such as Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy (in 2023) and L&T Chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan (January 2025)—who advocated for up to 90 hours—stands in direct opposition to both India’s own legislative framework and the international standards it has ratified.
The foundation of global labor protection, the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 1 (Hours of Work, Industry), 1919, established the fundamental principle of an 8-hour workday and a maximum 48-hour work week. India ratified this convention in 1921. Subsequent ILO conventions and recommendations have even advocated for a 40-hour work week.
In the Indian context, the primary statutes governing working hours—the Factories Act, 1948, and various state-level Shops and Commercial Establishments Acts—mandate maximum work periods:
- Maximum Weekly Hours: Not to exceed 48 hours.
- Maximum Daily Hours: Not to exceed 9 hours (with the ‘spread-over,’ including rest intervals, typically not exceeding 10.5 hours).
- Overtime (OT): Any work beyond 9 hours a day or 48 hours a week is legally considered OT and must be compensated at double the ordinary rate of wages.
- OT Limit: Even with overtime, the Factories Act generally limits total OT per quarter to 50 hours (though some new state provisions are increasing this, the total weekly work, including OT, is often capped at 60 hours).
Therefore, a mandatory 70-hour work week is not merely a “cultural shift”; it is a blatant violation of existing law. It would push a worker 22 hours beyond the legal weekly limit, equating to nearly three standard workdays of illegally or uncompensated overtime.
The Productivity Illusion
The argument that longer hours are “necessary in the tech industry” to beat the competition is a flawed premise. The ILO and numerous studies have consistently shown that productivity and efficiency drop sharply after the 48-hour mark. Sustained, excessive work leads to burnout, decreased creativity, increased errors, and elevated health risks, including stroke and ischemic heart disease, regardless of sleep duration.
While the government sector, often enjoying a two-day weekend, is accused of low productivity, the solution is not to mandate exhaustion in the private sector. The AI race is about innovation and quality, not simply counting hours. Success in AI is far more likely to emerge from a well-rested, creative mind than one struggling with chronic fatigue.
Time to Uphold the Law
India is positioning itself as a leader in the global economy. That status demands its labor practices reflect its commitment to fairness and human dignity, not a retreat toward exploitative models.
The “echoes” of the “996 culture” in tech hubs like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Gurugram must be silenced with swift legal enforcement. While Indian labor laws often provide more robust protection for ‘workers’ (typically blue-collar roles) than for employees in ‘supervisory or managerial roles’ (often the case in the tech sector), the 48-hour standard remains the moral baseline for all.
India has a choice: It can allow its commitment to worker welfare to atrophy in the quest for AI dominance, creating a new class of digitally-enabled serfs in the name of “hustle culture.” Or, it can stand firm on the principles of the ILO and the Factories Act, demonstrating that it can compete and innovate on the world stage without sacrificing its greatest asset: the health and dignity of its people. The 70-hour week is an illegal and unsustainable path; India must prioritize compliance over the cultural narrative of self-exploitation.
