After the backlash surrounding Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy’s call for a 70-hour workweek, and L&T Chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan’s endorsement of 90-hour weeks, new data confirms what many IT professionals have long felt: India’s tech sector is mired in a culture of overwork.
A recent survey by Blind, an anonymous professional networking app, reveals that 72% of Indian IT professionals regularly exceed the legal 48-hour workweek. Nearly 1 in 4 clock over 70 hours each week. The result? A staggering 83% report experiencing burnout, with the figure climbing as high as 90% in companies where extreme hours are the norm.
Blind’s survey, conducted between March 12 and 19, polled 1,450 verified professionals in India under the theme “Do you feel overworked?” The survey featured a mix of multiple-choice and yes/no questions focused on working hours and burnout.
Key insights include:
• 68% feel obligated to respond to work messages outside office hours
• 75% have either personally felt pressure to overwork or have witnessed it among peers
• Burnout levels ranged between 83% and 90% in high-intensity work environments
While some attribute the always-online culture to post-pandemic work habits, professionals say the issue is more deeply rooted in systemic expectations to over-deliver.
Despite the long hours, many professionals argue that productivity doesn’t increase proportionally. As one verified Oracle employee put it:
“It’s performative. Working endlessly doesn’t prove anything—except that burnout is inevitable.” Not all voices are pessimistic, though. A verified Amazon professional offered a more hopeful take:
“Most new-age leaders understand the importance of work-life balance and are actively advocating for it.”
Blind, which has over 12 million verified users worldwide, is widely used across top tech companies, including Meta, Uber, PayPal, and Capital One. In India, more than 70% of Microsoft employees are on the platform, using it to share candid, anonymous feedback about workplace culture.
