Mumbai, Nov 13 (IANS) Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy on Thursday said India should treat research as a national necessity rather than a luxury, calling for a stronger, more supportive ecosystem for scientists, scholars and innovators.

At an Infosys Science Foundation event announcing the ‘Infosys Prize 2025’ laureates, Murthy said that research represents the highest ideals of human inquiry because it demands curiosity, imagination, courage, discipline, and resilience.

Citing the example of the United States, he reminded the audience that nations that invest deeply in basic research eventually lead in scientific progress, economic strength, and societal well-being.

He also quoted former Prime Minister late Jawaharlal Nehru that science alone can address poverty, hunger, superstition and stagnation.

He called on the country to build an aspirational, meritocratic and intellectually vibrant ecosystem in which young researchers can thrive without constraints of hierarchy or limited opportunity.

The Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) changed its age policy on May 15, lowering the upper age limit for its prize winners from 50 to 40.

Each Infosys Prize includes a gold medal, a citation and a $1 lakh purse. The 2025 prizes honoured six researchers for their contribution in market design and empirical analysis of allocation mechanisms, mathematical optimisation and breakthroughs in algorithmic theory. Further researchers in the field of Prakrit and genome maintenance and DNA repair also received prizes.

Infosys’ consolidated net profit for the second quarter of the current fiscal (Q2 FY26) stood at Rs 7,364 crore, up 13 per cent year-on-year (YoY).

The IT giant had posted a net profit of Rs 6,506 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago (Q2 FY25). The company’s net profit rose around 5 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, as well as from Rs 6,921 crore in the April-June quarter.

–IANS

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