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Murthy says ideas and opportunities exist beyond computers and high-tech areas, especially in rural areas.

NR Narayana Murthy, the co-founder and chief mentor of Indian IT giant Infosys Technologies, is donning a new hat as an investor to fund new ideas that create value for society. Murthy says ideas and opportunities exist beyond computers and high-tech areas, especially in rural  areas, reports Economic Times. Murthy plans to help young entrepreneurs to convert their ideas into
reality.

“I find youngsters want to do all kinds of things. There are people who want to create wealth by booking tickets. There are people who are creating wealth by enhancing the efficiency of production lines. There are people who are creating wealth by providing efficient, decent and
cost-effective means for the corporate world. They all have great ideas,” Murthy told ET. His personal wealth is believed to be around $1.8 billion.

Murthy may have also found his first project to invest in. Serial tech entrepreneur turned investor Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao is planning a low-cost housing venture and plans to rope in Murthy as a co-investor, reports today's Business Standard. Rao founded MphasiS and sold it to EDS Inc four years ago, and has been since investing from his personal wealth.

With this role, Murthy joins his associate and co-founder of Infosys, NS Raghavan, who quit the firm as joint MD, now runs Nadathur Investments and early stage venture capital firm Ojas Venture Partners. Another Indian tech czar, Azim Premji, also has a personal investment company called PremjiInvest, which has a corpus of $1 billion.

Murthy, a first generation entrepreneur himself, has been an inspiration to many budding entrepreneurs in India since starting his IT venture with a Rs 10,000 loan from his wife.