Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, agrees with Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group, on the importance of work-life balance. Poonawalla posted on X (formerly Twitter) that his wife loves staring at him on Sundays, echoing Mahindra’s statement that work-life balance is essential. This comes after Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman SN Subrahmanyan suggested that people should work for 90 hours a week, including Sundays, sparking a national backlash. Many industrialists, Bollywood stars, and politicians have reacted to his statement, criticizing the idea of sacrificing personal time for work.
RPG Group Chairman Harsh Goenka and Bajaj Auto’s Rajiv Bajaj, among others, have emphasized the importance of work-life balance and warned against burnout. Actress Deepika Padukone shared Subrahmanyan’s remark, saying it was “shocking” to see such comments from senior officials. TMC MP Mahua Moitra sarcastically urged Subrahmanyan to “get a life,” citing Denmark’s work-life balance and GDP/capita statistics. L&T later issued an official statement saying that nation-building is at the core of their mandate and that Subrahmanyan’s remarks reflect this.